Ursula Wesselmann1, Peter Czakanski1
1) United States
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Chronic pelvic pain is a common and debilitating problem that can significantly impair the quality of life of women. The biopsychosocial model suggests that biological, psychological and social factors all play a role in chronic pain. In 1947 Hebb first explored the long-term benefits of an enriched environment in experimental animal studies. Environmental enrichment includes both social and physical stimulation and has been shown to be neuroprotective in a variety of neurodegenerative disorders in animal studies. We have previously developed a rodent model of inflammatory pelvic pain (Wesselmann et al.,1997; Giamberardino et al. , 2013). The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of environmental enrichment on pain behavior in this model.
METHODS: Female rats were housed in an enriched environment starting at 3 weeks of age (n=6). Control rats were housed in standard cages (n=5). Sixty days later mustard oil was injected into one uterine horn in rats to produce inflammation. Non-stop videotape recording was performed for 5 days to monitor rat behavior.
RESULTS: Rats with uterine inflammation showed behavior during the first 5 days post-inflammation suggestive of visceral pain. Exposure to an enriched environment resulted in a significant reduction (P<0.01) of visceral pain behavior.
CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that environmental enrichment leads to a significant reduction in visceral pain behavior in this rodent model of pelvic pain, suggesting that environmental factors early in life could play an important role in the development of chronic pelvic pain at later stages in life.
CITATIONS:
Hebb, D. O., The effect of early experience on problem solving at maturity. Am. Psychol., 2, 737–745, 1947.
Giamberardino, M. A., U. Wesselmann, R. Costantini and P. Czakanski, Animal Models of Urogenital Pain. Pages 183-200. In H. O. HANDWERKER, and L. ARENDT-NIELSEN Eds., Pain Models: Translational Relevance and Applications. IASP Press, Washington, DC, USA, 2013.
Wesselmann, U. and J. Lai, Mechanisms of referred visceral pain: Uterine inflammation in the adult virgin rat results in neurogenic plasma extravasation in the skin. Pain, 73, 309-317, 1997.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: preliminary studies were supported by NIH grants RO1 NS36553, HD39699 (NINDS, NICHD & Office of Research for Women’s Health) to UW.
