Adult-age inflammatory pain experience enhances long-term pain vigilance in rats

Previous animal studies have illustrated a modulatory effect of neonatal pain experience on subsequent pain-related behaviors. However, the relationship between chronic pain status in adulthood and future pain perception remains unclear. In the current study, we investigated the effects of inflammat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-05, Vol.7 (5), p.e36767
Main Authors: Li, Sheng-Guang, Wang, Jin-Yan, Luo, Fei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal cognition
Animals
Anticipation, Psychological - drug effects
Behavior
Behavior, Animal - drug effects
Biology
Chronic Disease - psychology
Chronic pain
Conditioning
Conditioning, Psychological - drug effects
Cues
Emotions
Experiments
Fear - psychology
Fear conditioning
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde - adverse effects
Hearing
Hyperalgesia
Inflammation
Inflammation - complications
Laboratory animals
Lasers - adverse effects
Male
Medicine
Memory
Mental health
Morphine
Neonates
Neurosciences
Pain
Pain - chemically induced
Pain - complications
Pain - psychology
Pain management
Pain perception
Pain Perception - drug effects
Perception
Psychoanalysis
Psychology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Rodents
Studies
Time Factors
Vigilance
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Summary:Previous animal studies have illustrated a modulatory effect of neonatal pain experience on subsequent pain-related behaviors. However, the relationship between chronic pain status in adulthood and future pain perception remains unclear. In the current study, we investigated the effects of inflammatory pain experience on subsequent formalin-evoked pain behaviors and fear conditioning induced by noxious stimulation in adult rats. Our results demonstrated an increase of the second but not the first phase of formalin-induced pain behaviors in animals with a history of inflammatory pain that have recovered. Similarly, rats with persistent pain experience displayed facilitated acquisition and prolonged retention of pain-related conditioning. These effects of prior pain experience on subsequent behavior were prevented by repeated morphine administration at an early stage of inflammatory pain. These results suggest that chronic pain diseases, if not properly and promptly treated, may have a long-lasting impact on processing and perception of environmental threats. This may increase the susceptibility of patients to subsequent pain-related disorders, even when chronic pain develops in adulthood. These data highlight the importance of treatment of chronic pain at an early stage.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0036767