Home › Neuroscience › Use of the Operant Orofacial Pain Assessment Device (OPAD) to Measure Changes in Nociceptive Behavior
Neuroscience JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

Use of the Operant Orofacial Pain Assessment Device (OPAD) to Measure Changes in Nociceptive Behavior

DOI: 10.3791/50336-v
What you'll learn
  • ✓ Operate the OPAD system for quantifying rodent orofacial pain behaviors
  • ✓ Program and configure operant pain assessment protocols in the OPAD software
  • ✓ Interpret nociceptive data outputs from the reward/conflict-based assay
  • ✓ Apply translational pain measurement methods to conscious, awake rodents
Protocol

Biopharma Insights We present a user-friendly, high-throughput operant system for the evaluation of pain behaviors in awake, conscious rodents. The Orofacial Pain Assessment Device (OPAD) can assess pain through a reward/conflict paradigm thus providing a more humane way of testing. This protocol will yield more clinically relevant and translational data from rodents.

Difficulty
intermediate
Total time
~1–2 weeks per cohort (including training, baseline, and test sessions)
Model organism
Rodent (mouse or rat, strain unspecified)
Biosafety
BSL-1

Steps

1
Train rodents and establish baseline pain responses

Acclimate and train conscious rodents to the operant OPAD system through reward-based conditioning. Establish baseline nociceptive behavior prior to experimental treatment.

▶ 01:20
2
Program OPAD protocols and experimental parameters

Configure the OPAD software with task parameters, reward contingencies, and conflict paradigm settings specific to your pain assessment protocol.

▶ 01:54
3
Prepare rodent and apply nociceptive stimulus

Position the awake rodent in the OPAD chamber and apply the test stimulus (e.g., capsaicin injection or thermal challenge) to induce orofacial pain.

▶ 05:49
4
Execute the operant pain assessment assay

Run the OPAD assay while the rodent responds to the reward/conflict paradigm. Record all operant responses and pain-related behavioral choices in real time.

▶ 07:02
5
Analyze nociceptive data with OPAD software

Export and analyze behavioral data, pain thresholds, and reward-seeking suppression metrics using the integrated OPAD analysis toolkit.

▶ 09:40
6
Interpret rodent behavioral responses and pain outcomes

Evaluate changes in operant behavior and pain-avoidance patterns to quantify nociceptive severity and treatment efficacy in awake, conscious rodents.

▶ 10:40
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