Is electrical stimulation of the rat incisor an appropriate experimental nociceptive stimulus?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not tooth pulp stimulation in the rat can selectively activate the pulp nerve fibers without excitation of the periodontium and to decide if the nerve fibers situated in the pulp of the rat's incisor are involved in the nociceptive reactions caused by an intrapulpal stimulation. The experiments were carried out on 20 awake and freely moving Sprague-Dawley rats. Bipolar stimulating electrodes were inserted into the pulp of the left lower incisor and in the right incisor after removal of the pulp. Special cares were taken to avoid, on the right side, direct stimulation of the stump of the apical nerve. The jaw opening reflexes were recorded from the digastric muscles ipsilaterally to the stimulated teeth and the thresholds were compared. Using the same animals, four typical and reproducible nociceptive behavioral reactions caused by a long tooth pulp stimulation were also observed (shock of 0.5 ms at 50 Hz during 1 s). The stimulus intensity was progressively increased, and the threshold of each reaction was recorded. For each of the 20 rats tested, the jaw opening reflex and the nociceptive reactions did not disappear after removal of the pulp, but the threshold of the responses to the stimulation of the nonvital tooth were significantly above the threshold of the responses to the stimulation of the vital incisor. The conclusion was tooth pulp stimulation activates the periodontal nerve fibers in the rat, and stimulation of the incisor pulp is significant in pain study in the rat because the thresholds of the jaw opening reflex and the nociceptive reactions were increased after the tooth pulp tissue was removed.