Pain assessment in laboratory species

Pain recognition, prevention, and alleviation in research animals are important from an animal welfare, ethical, and legal standpoint. The ideal pain assessment tool would be reliable, sensitive, valid, practical, easily applicable, and generalizable. Whilst there are a number of physiological and behavioral markers available, the latter is more likely to be applicable in clinical decision making. Therefore, the use of animal-based indices and pain-specific behaviors is widespread as a method of pain assessment. There are many challenges in the selection of an appropriate pain assessment strategy, including, for example, species and strain differences in pain-related behaviors. Tools may also be complex, require prior training and experience, or be nongeneralizable. Good record maintenance and referral to records aid in the achievement of objectivity in assessment, as well as transparency in decision-making.