Quantitating antinociception with experimentally induced pain. Terminology, guidelines, and in vivo models

This article is an introduction to experimental evaluation of putative analgesic agents and experimental paradigms. It reviews the major ethical and legal considerations that must be considered prior to undertaking experimental protocols involving humans or experimental animals. Also considered are those fundamental concepts of the pain response that are important in evaluating analgesic drugs. Finally, a number of representative in vivo models are discussed that have proved useful in this field.