Center for Translational Medicine Research on Sensory-Motor Diseases, Yan’an University, Yan’an 716000, China
This work was supported by grants from The National Natural Science Foundation of China (82074564,81772451,81860410).
Visceral pain is pathological pain and common clinical symptoms sourced from internal organs exposed to noxious stimuli such as mechanical stretch, inflammation, spasm, and ischemia. Compared with somatic pain, the mechanisms of induction and maintenance of viseral pain and its modulation are more complex. It has been demonstrated that peripheral mechanisms, i.e. peripheral inflammation, variations of the number and function of ion channels/receptors, central sensitization, and imbalanced descending controls: inhibition and facilitation are all involved in visceral pain. Therefore, clarifying mechanisms of visceral pain is important in basic pain research as well as in the clinic. For the in-depth study of the complex mechanisms underlying visceral pain, the choice and establishment of experimental animal models that mimic the pathophysiological characteristics of clinical visceral diseases is an essential prerequisite for the exploration of visceral pain. One difficulty in establishing animal model of visceral pain is that the experimental animal model cannot completely simulate the pathophysiological characteristics of clinical visceral diseases, and visceral diseases may be accompanied by a series of complications. In addition, repeatability, easiness and economy should be considered during the establishment of the animal model of visceral pain. At present, there are various animal models and classification methods of visceral pain, during which no authoritative classification of visceral pain animal models is validated. Currently, animal model of visceral pain is classified according to the method of visceral stimulation, such as inflammatory factors, mechanical dilative, ischemic, and electrical stimulation. Besides, visceral pain model can be classified according to the location of occurrence, i.e. heart, gastroduodenum, pancreas, small intestine, colorectal, ureter, bladder and uterus. The establishment of an ideal experimental animal model in line with the pathophysiological characteristics of clinical visceral diseases is of great significant and critical to explore the mechanisms of induction, maintenance, and regulation in visceral pain, and to further screen the therapeutic drugs for related visceral diseases. The aim of current review is to summary the preparation and characteristics of common experimental animal visceral pain models, and provide relative documents for basic researchers and clinicians to select appropriate animal models in exploring visceral pain, better understanding the associated mechanisms, and providing available therapeutic strategy.
WANG Wen-Wen, LEI Jing, YOU Hao-Jun.Review: Research Progress of Experimental Animal Models of Visceral Pain[J]. Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics,2022,49(5):858-866
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