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MCS – Harte, Morrow Method New Approach to preclincial pain--An operant analgesia meter for rats.

Novel operant approach to preclinical pain research developed at the University of Michigan.  The basic concept is that rats escape aversive light to rewarding dark chamber by deciding to cross nociceptive probes.  Adaptable to other noxious stimuli.

Using various pain models, studies can be done with such measured responses as

• Number of complete crosses
• Time to exit the light chamber (latency)
• Time to cross the probes, etc.
• Significant stimulus response relationships have been observed between probe height and these measured responses.

The MCS – Harte, Morrow Method provides an operant method of pain testing with rodents that complements reflexive methods by addressing cognitive and motivational processing. Rodents are placed on one side of a height-adjustable array of nociceptive probes and given the opportunity to cross the array to escape from an aversive lighted area to a preferred dark area. The array consists of blunt tapered probes that are painful but not sharp enough to cause any tissue damage when walked on by the rodent.

 Animal training is fast and simple