Honors Theses
Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Biology
First Advisor
Kenneth Sufka
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Pain associated with cancer is unpredictable and may reflect an inability to quantify it in animals. We hypothesize that Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) testing is sensitive to pain relieving drugs in animal models of cancer pain and that CPP scores will reflect varying degrees of pain relief To test this, mice were assigned to one of four groups: tumor or non-tumor groups conditioned to saline or morphine during preference testing. After baseline preference testing in the CPP apparatus, animals received either saline or morphine in the S+ chamber (initially non-preferred chamber). All animals received saline in the S- chamber (initially preferred chamber). Preference scores for non-tumor groups showed that mice receiving saline in both S+ and S- chambers show no particular compartment preference, indicating that this apparatus and test procedure does not show any compartment bias. For non-tumor animals administered morphine, the preference score was higher than their saline control groups. We interpret this increase in preference scores to be associated with morphine’s pleasurable side effects, which known to underlie its abuse. Tumor saline mice also showed no particular compartment preference. Mice with tumors administered morphine showed an increase in preference scores over the last six trials prior to euthanasia. We interpret this increase in preference scores to be due to the increasing amounts of pain associated with tumor growth. We interpret that an increase in S+ compartment preference in tumor morphine animals reflects drug-seeking behavior that was previously associated with pain relief in this chamber. These findings show that CPP is capable of quantifying drug-seeking behavior in tumor models.
Recommended Citation
Burson, Hannah Elizabeth, "Conditioned Place Preference as a Means to Measure Analgesic Drug Effects on Cancer Pain in Murine Models" (2012). Honors Theses. 2181.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2181
Accessibility Status
Searchable text