Presented by Kinjal Mody and Kiyoshi Woods
Chronic pain affects one in five Americans, making it one of the most common chronic conditions in the United States 1 . Even though millions are affected by chronic pain, there are a limited number of pain therapeutics available to treat this condition. Only 2 % of pain therapeutics receive FDA approval from Phase 1, compared to 10 % of therapeutics for other diseases 2 . Outcomes are low for the pain field because there is a misinterpretation of pain behavior in the pre-clinical stage 3.
This project focuses on using existing pain scales in new ways and developing a protocol to describe this new methodology. A previous 2019 publication by Dr . Nathan T . Fried utilized slow-motion videography and statistical modeling to analyze hind paw withdrawal caused by painful stimuli 5 . Upon reanalyzing the one-second slow-motion videos from his study, there was more data in the facial features of the rat, which was not characterized in his work. A 2011 study performed in Dr . Jeffrey Mogil’s lab led to the development of the Rat and Mouse Grimace Scales (RGS, MGS), which measure facial features of pain in these rodents 6. However, their measurement using the Grimace Scale relied on 30 minutes of video analysis 6.
This project further applies the RGS to the one – second slow – motion videos to assess facial rat grimace in response to different painful stimuli. The goal of this project is to develop a protocol detailing the process of analyzing slow-motion facial behaviors of pain using the Rat Grimace Scale.