Department of Anatomy, Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Rijnstate, The Netherlands.
Lab Anim. 2020 Aug;54(4):365-372. doi: 10.1177/0023677219856915. Epub 2019 Aug 1.
Chronic pain and subfertility are the main symptoms of concern in women with endometriosis. In order to find new therapeutic options to suppress the pain, translational animal models are indispensable. We have developed a new automated, experimental setup, with full consideration for animal wellbeing, to determine whether operant behaviour can reveal abdominal hyperalgesia in rats with surgically-induced endometriosis, in order to assess whether abdominal hyperalgesia affect behavioural parameters. Endometriosis was induced by transplantation of uterine fragments in the abdominal cavity. Control groups consisted of sham-operated rats and non-operated rats. We have developed an operant chamber (Skinnerbox) which includes a barrier. The rat can climb the barrier in order to reach the food pellet, increasing in this way the pressure to the abdomen. We show that endometriosis rats collect significantly less sugar pellets when compared with the control rats after the introduction of the barrier. In the Skinnerbox experiment, we showed that in a positive operant setting, the introduction of a barrier results in a contrast of operant behaviour of endometriosis rats and control groups, perchance as a result of abdominal discomfort/hyperalgesia due to surgically-induced endometriosis. This is a promising start for the further development of a refined animal model to monitor abdominal discomfort/hyperalgesia in rats with surgically-induced endometriosis.
慢性疼痛和生育能力低下是子宫内膜异位症女性关注的主要症状。为了寻找新的治疗方法来缓解疼痛，转化动物模型是必不可少的。我们开发了一种新的自动化实验装置，充分考虑了动物的福利，以确定手术诱导的子宫内膜异位症大鼠是否可以通过操作性行为来揭示腹部痛觉过敏，从而评估腹部痛觉过敏是否会影响行为参数。子宫内膜异位症是通过将子宫碎片移植到腹腔中来诱导的。对照组包括假手术大鼠和未手术大鼠。我们开发了一个操作性室（斯金纳箱），其中包括一个障碍物。大鼠可以爬上障碍物以到达食物颗粒，从而增加对腹部的压力。我们发现，与对照组相比，子宫内膜异位症大鼠在引入障碍物后采集的糖丸明显减少。在斯金纳箱实验中，我们表明，在积极的操作性设置中，障碍物的引入导致子宫内膜异位症大鼠和对照组大鼠的操作性行为出现对比，可能是由于手术诱导的子宫内膜异位症引起的腹部不适/痛觉过敏。这是进一步开发监测手术诱导的子宫内膜异位症大鼠腹部不适/痛觉过敏的改良动物模型的一个有希望的开端。
