The Long-Term Effects of Neonatal Pain And Analgesia on Pain Behavior in CD-1 Mice
Date
2002
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects of neonatal pain and pain relief on adulthood pain sensitivity. We hypothesized that exposure to early life pain, as induced by a surgical procedure, would cause decreased sensitivity in the developing pain systems, and that administration of analgesics would provide some attenuation of those effects. Adulthood behavioral assays included were measurement of ethanol preference, as well as hot plate, tail flick, and abdominal constriction tests. In support of our initial predictions, we found that in the tail flick and abdominal constriction tests, neonatal pain lessened adult responsiveness to a painful stimulus, except when morphine acted to restore pain sensitivity to its base level. In the hot plate condition this effect was only true for males, whereas for females morphine had no protective effect. Future research should focus on isolating the mechanisms of these observed differences.