Hernández-Avalos I, Mota-Rojas D, Mendoza-Flores J E, Casas-Alvarado A, Flores-Padilla K, Miranda-Cortes A E, Torres-Bernal F, Gómez-Prado J, Mora-Medina P
Department of Biological Sciences, Clinical Pharmacology and Veterinary Anesthesia, Faculty of Higher Studies Cuautitlán FESC, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, State of Mexico 54714, Mexico.
Neurophysiology of Pain, Behavior and Assessment of Welfare in Domestic Animals, DPAA, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City 04960, Mexico.
Vet World. 2021 Nov;14(11):2984-2995. doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.2984-2995. Epub 2021 Nov 26.
Pain and anxiety are two of the most important concerns in clinical veterinary medicine because they arise as consequences of multiple factors that can severely affect animal welfare. The aim of the present review was to provide a description and interpretation of the physiological and behavioral alterations associated with pain and anxiety in equines. To this end, we conducted an extensive review of diverse sources on the topic. The article begins by describing the neurophysiological pathway of pain, followed by a discussion of the importance of the limbic system in responses to pain and anxiety, since prolonged exposure to situations that cause stress and pain generates such physiological changes as tachycardia, tachypnea, hypertension, hyperthermia, and heart rate variability (HRV), often accompanied by altered emotional states, deficient rest, and even aggressiveness. In the long term, animals may show deficiencies in their ability to deal with changes in the environment due to alterations in the functioning of their immune, nervous, and endocrinologic systems. In conclusion, pain and anxiety directly impact the homeostasis of organisms, so it is necessary to conduct objective evaluations of both sensations using behavioral scales, like the horse grimace scale, complemented by assessments of blood biomarkers to analyze their correlation with physiological parameters: Heart rate, respiratory rate, HRV, theparasympathetic tone activity index, lactate and glucose levels, and temperature. Additional tools - infrared thermography, for example - can also be used in these efforts to improve the quality of life and welfare of horses.
疼痛和焦虑是临床兽医学中两个最重要的关注点，因为它们是多种因素导致的后果，这些因素会严重影响动物福利。本综述的目的是对马的疼痛和焦虑相关的生理及行为改变进行描述和解读。为此，我们对该主题的各种来源进行了广泛的综述。文章首先描述了疼痛的神经生理途径，接着讨论了边缘系统在对疼痛和焦虑反应中的重要性，因为长期暴露于引起压力和疼痛的情境会产生诸如心动过速、呼吸急促、高血压、体温过高和心率变异性（HRV）等生理变化，常伴有情绪状态改变、休息不足甚至攻击性。从长期来看，由于免疫、神经和内分泌系统功能的改变，动物应对环境变化的能力可能会出现缺陷。总之，疼痛和焦虑直接影响生物体的稳态，因此有必要使用行为量表（如马面部表情量表）对这两种感觉进行客观评估，并辅以血液生物标志物评估，以分析它们与生理参数（心率、呼吸频率、HRV、副交感神经张力活动指数、乳酸和葡萄糖水平以及体温）的相关性。还可以使用其他工具（例如红外热成像）来改善马匹的生活质量和福利。
