A New Tool for Quantifying Mouse Facial Expressions

Facial expressions are an increasingly used tool to assess emotional experience and affective state during experimental procedures in animal models. Previous studies have successfully related specific facial features with different positive and negative valence situations, most notably in relation to pain. However, characterizing and interpreting such expressions remains a major challenge. We identified seven easily visualizable facial parameters on mouse profiles, accounting for changes in eye, ear, mouth, snout and face orientation. We monitored their relative position on the face across time and throughout sequences of positive and aversive gustatory and somatosensory stimuli in freely moving mice. Facial parameters successfully captured response profiles to each stimulus and reflected spontaneous movements in response to stimulus valence, as well as contextual elements such as habituation. Notably, eye opening was increased by palatable tastants and innocuous touch, while this parameter was reduced by tasting a bitter solution and by painful stimuli. Mouse ear posture appears to convey a large part of emotional information. Facial expressions accurately depicted welfare and affective state in a time-sensitive manner, successfully correlating time-dependent stimulation. This study is the first to delineate rodent facial expression features in multiple positive valence situations, including in relation to affective touch. We suggest using this facial expression assay might provide mechanistic insights into emotional expression and improve the translational value of experimental studies in rodents on pain and other states.