面部表情通常用于评估人类疼痛等情绪，尤其是在非语言中（例如认知受损和新生儿）。最近，Langford等人的工作。（2010年）表明，小鼠响应一系列常规伤害性测试表现出面部表情。如果这些面部表情是对疼痛的直接反应，那么这可能会提供一种评估动物疼痛的新方法。使用面部表情评估疼痛可能会克服与当前使用行为最佳实践相关的一些局限性。阿片类镇痛本身的给药似乎不会引起面部表情的变化，从而使疼痛的评估混淆。面部表情可能与疼痛的情感成分更直接相关，而情绪成分是最关键的。在评估面部表情时，我们可以利用自然倾向于看面部的倾向，这可能会提高该方法的有效性。使用面部表情评估疼痛应减少耗时的时间，从而可以确定有效的指标以获取更多的程序和物种。我们的目的是研究面部表情是否可以客观，可靠地用于测量一系列实验室动物物种中的后疗法疼痛，或者与其他技术结合使用。 Initially we will assess whether facial expressions in mice change following procedures associated with both acute (e.g. post-surgical) and chronic (e.g. neoplasia) pain. Once we have successfully validated the use of facial expressions for assessing post-surgical pain in mice we will assess whether a similar approach can be used to assess post-surgical pain in other species, including rats, rabbits and macaques. It is important to note that we currently have no objective method of assessing post-operative pain in non-human primates. We will demonstrate that facial expressions can: (1) Assess post-procedural pain as well as responses to nociceptive testing in mice; (2) Overcome the limitations associated with behavioural pain assessment; (3) Rapidly and objectively score pain in a variety of species; (4) Potentially be a more sensitive measure of pain; (5) Determine the duration and severity of post-procedural pain by correlating them with behavioural indicators of pain in a range of species; (6) Potentially assess the affective component of pain in animals; (7) Evaluate the efficacy of methods to alleviate pain (e.g. analgesic administration), and to develop and apply more humane endpoints.
