Female mice exhibit a more sensitive automated squint response to pain induced by CGRP and amylin
Rea, B. J.; Sowers, L. P.; Davison, A. L.; Fairbanks, A. M.; Wattiez, A.-S.; Poolman, P.; Kardon, R. H.; Russo, A. F.
Show abstract
We developed an automated squint assay using both black C57BL/6J and white CD1 mice that measured the interpalpebral fissure area between the upper and lower eyelids as an objective quantification of pain. In C57BL/6J mice, we observed a squint response to increasing doses of a migraine trigger, the neuropeptide CGRP, including a significant response in female mice at a dose below detection by the manual grimace scale. Using the automated software, both C57BL/6J and CD1 mice lacked a detectable photic blink response. The CGRP-related peptide amylin induced squinting behavior in female mice, but not males. These data demonstrate that an automated squint assay can be used as an objective, real-time continuous-scale measure of pain that provides higher precision and real-time analysis compared to manual grimace assessments.
Matching journals
The top 5 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.