Side Effects of Pain and Analgesia in Animal Experimentation Paulin Jirkof
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Focus on Reproducibility REVIEW Side effects of pain and analgesia in animal experimentation Paulin Jirkof Thisreviewhighlightsselectedeffectsofuntreatedpainandofwidelyusedanalgesicssuchas opioids,non-steroidanti-inflammatorydrugsandantipyretics,toillustratetherelevanceofcarefully planned,appropriateandcontrolledanalgesiaforgreaterreproducibilityinanimalexperiments involvinglaboratoryrodents. A potential cause of suffering in experimental animals is pain with a complex pattern of connections are then involved in the induced by procedures, diseases and injuries. Pain is a complex state processing of pain and the resulting responses. Although some arising from many sources, involving several systems in the body. components of the system mediate sensory discriminant aspects, Pain is more than nociception and has been defined as a ‘‘subjective, others convey information about affective-motivational aspects sensory and emotional experience’’1 in man. It can be assumed that such as the unpleasantness that accompanies painful stimuli3. pain, as an affective experience, also exists in other mammals. In When tissue is traumatized, the release of local chemical agents light of these considerations, pain treatment becomes an ethical, such as inflammatory mediators may also cause excitation of and in most countries legal, obligation in any animal experiment nerve endings. This can lead to hyperalgesia, a state in which that induces more than mild pain of short duration. stimuli that are normally perceived as slightly painful are per- Nevertheless, pain management is more than an animal welfare ceived as substantially more painful. A consequence of nerve dam- concern, as it has important scientific and methodological implica- age can be allodynia, an increase in the excitability of neurons, tions for the design of experiments and the quality of the resulting which results in pain following a stimulus that is not normally data. A recent review on reporting practices for anesthesia and perceived to be painful3. analgesia protocols after invasive animal procedures revealed that Untreated pain may hamper the healing of tissues. Bone heal- many published studies do not include pain relief and do not report, ing, for example, is promoted by mechanical stimulation. Thus, as or do not completely report, the anesthetic and analgesic meas- has been shown in rats, effective pain relief and the consequent ures involved2. The pain management protocol chosen, as well as increased use of the affected body part are important for healing4. any untreated pain, has the potential to affect scientific results and Besides local mechanisms, ascending painful impulses lead to increase the variability of data, thereby hampering the reproduc- hypothalamic activation and increased sympathetic-adrenergic ibility of experiments substantially. Pain management includes the system activity. This activation results in substantial cardiovascu- choice of anesthesia and analgesia agents, their dose, administra- lar effects, such as changes in heart rate and heart rate variability, © 2017 Nature America, Inc., part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved. All rights part Nature. of Springer Inc., America, Nature © 2017 tion method, duration and frequency of treatment, and a pain- as has been shown in mice5. Pain, similar to distress, affects the monitoring scheme for each individual animal. It is therefore an secretion of many hormones, neurotransmitters and enzymes. important part of experimental design, and determining the appro- For example, untreated pain increases the secretion of catecho- priate protocol is mandatory when planning animal experiments. lamines such as noradrenalin, corticoids, glucagon, adrenocor- As a complement to such important preparatory work, this ticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and antidiuretic hormone (ADH), review aims to highlight some effects of untreated pain, as well as and decreases the secretion of insulin and testosterone in many side effects of widely used analgesics, to illustrate the relevance of species6,7. In addition, untreated pain can affect the immune appropriate and controlled analgesia, as well as the proper report- system detrimentally by leading to a reduction of natural killer ing of all analgesic measures2 for greater reproducibility in animal cells and mixed lymphocyte reactivity8. experiments. As mice and rats are the most abundant laboratory In humans, unrelieved pain may contribute to psychological species, this article focuses on these rodent species. distress, sleeplessness and impaired rehabilitation. Changes in behavior that might be indicative of negative affective states are also Effects of untreated pain observed in animals. Typical changes in rodent behavior include The sensory component of pain is nociception, which depends reduced food and water intake, changes in activity, reduced sleep, a on specifically dedicated receptors, nociceptors, and associated flattened circadian rhythm, loss of behavioral diversity, and changes pathways. Different brain structures and a network of neurons in social grooming, nest building or burrowing behavior7,9–11. Division of Surgical Research, University Hospital Zürich, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland. Correspondence should be addressed to P.J. ([email protected]). LabAnimal Volume46,No.4|APRIL2017 123 REVIEW Focus on Reproducibility This exemplary list illustrates how pain affects a multitude of have shown that several analgesics are efficient when administered body systems via several pathways. Pain states following surgical orally and voluntarily. Nevertheless, oral self-administration has trauma and painful diseases are complex in nature and cannot be been criticized as being less effective than subcutaneous treatment easily predicted or controlled. Omitting pain relief to reduce side in rats25. Reduced bioavailability caused by metabolizing of the effects of analgesic drugs might be a double-edged sword, and is drug before it reaches systemic circulation is a known obstacle in justifiable only in a few well-founded cases. this administration route26. Moreover, latency to ingestion as well as the total amount ingested by the animals, especially during the Effect of analgesia protocols resting phase, is difficult to anticipate and is clearly variable for each The choice of analgesia protocol for a specific research question is individual. Thus, voluntary ingestion protocols might be applicable challenging and might best be solved with the help of an expert in only when pain is mild, or in combination with drug injections, veterinary analgesia. The optimal analgesia protocol should relieve at least during the resting phase of rodents24. pain reliably and lack side effects that might hamper animal welfare. When surgical procedures are planned, analgesia has to be In addition, it should have a controllable effect on the specific sys- adjusted for the anesthetic protocol, especially if pre-emptive anal- tem targeted by the experiment or on experimental procedures. In gesia is applied. Pre-emptive analgesia is the administration of an light of the many aspects that have to be considered—species, type analgesic drug before the nociceptive insult to reduce sensitization of pain, research question—there is no one-size-fits-all analgesia. of the pain pathways. This procedure is widely recommended when Pain is, in many cases, never relieved completely, but should be pain is expected because many anesthesia agents, such as isoflurane, minimized and controlled. To choose a potent analgesia protocol, do not induce analgesia. Pre-emptive analgesia has the potential to one must identify the type of pain (nociceptive, neuropathic, idi- be more effective than a similar analgesic treatment initiated after opathic or mixed), as well as its intensity and duration. There are surgery and to reduce the required analgesia dose. Nevertheless, distinct differences in the features of acute and chronic pain, and common analgesics have side effects that might hamper anesthetic acute pain, if not well managed, can lead to chronic pain that persists or surgical procedures, such as respiratory depression or increased even if the underlying cause has been treated. Although the course risk of bleeding. Current evidence concerning the beneficial effect of pain in spontaneously developing diseases such as cancer may of pre-emptive analgesia on chronic pain states is still sparse and differ substantially in the individual, in most rodent surgeries pain further research is needed27. peaks around the first 4–6 h post operation. Although the duration of pain depends on the effect of the surgery, even routine interven- Side effects of opioid analgesics tions, such as embryo transfer involving a minor laparotomy, can Opioids, which are used routinely in the treatment of laboratory result in up to 24 h of moderate-to-mild pain5,10. Furthermore, pain rodents, are potent analgesics that exert their pharmacological perception might differ between species, between lines and strains, effects by binding and activating specific opioid receptors that are and between sexes, and also depends on the age of the animal12–15. widely distributed in the nervous system and gastrointestinal tract. In addition, possible sex differences in drug biotransformation and The pain-relieving effect of opioid analgesics is induced by two pharmacokinetics have been discussed16. mechanisms: inhibitory effects on pain transmission and emotional The pharmacokinetics of analgesics vary with the route of detachment from pain28–30. Given