Joana Ferreira-Gomes, Sara Adães, José M. Castro-Lopes
The aim of this study was to investigate pain-related behaviors on the affected knee joint, the primary source of nociception, in animals with mono-iodoacetate–induced OA, using the knee-bend and pin-prick tests, and to evaluate nociception elicited by walking using the CatWalk test. The von Frey and Randall-Selitto tests applied to the paw allowed us to compare our study results with previous studies. Knee-bend score of OA animals was higher than those of control animals throughout the study. At every time point, the ipsilateral hind-paw load of OA rats, as measured by the CatWalk test, was lower than that of control rats and paw withdraw threshold to von Frey filaments was also decreased. No changes were observed in pin-prick and Randall-Selitto tests.
The knee-bend and CatWalk tests are effective for evaluating movement-related nociception, a hallmark of clinical OA, which was present throughout the experimental period.
The Journal of Pain, 2008, 9(10), 945-954