Lino Becerra1,2, Pei-Ching Chang1, James Bishop1, Eric Crown3, Yang Tsai3, Mark Urban3, Michael Klimas3, Richard Hargreaves3, Smriti Iyengar4, Rosa Maria Simmons4, Steve C. Peters4, Adam James Schwarz4, David Bleakman4, David Borsook1,2
1Imaging Consortium for Drug Development, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA; 2Athinoula A. Martinos Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; 3Merck and Co, West Point, PA, USA; 4Eli Lilly and Co., Indianapolis, IN, USA
Functional imaging studies of rodents generally use anesthetics and paralyzers to control stress levels and motion. For pain studies, however, the use of anesthetics introduces confounds that hamper our ability to measure pain responses in the brain and their modulation by analgesics. An awake animal fMRI pain model, with proper control of stress and motion, is necessary. Here, we evaluate an awake pain model and compare it to traditional behavioral pain studies to determine the optimal conditions for imaging.