Measurement of neuropathic pain in constrictive sciatic nerve models in rats

José R. Carrillo-Márquez, Faculty of Health Sciences; Alpha Health Sciences Leadership Program. Universidad Anahuac; Mexico City, Mexico
Ma. Fernanda Carrillo-Márquez, Faculty of Health Sciences; Alpha Health Sciences Leadership Program. Universidad Anahuac; Mexico City, Mexico
José L. Navarro-Olvera, Stereotactic, Functional and Radiosurgery Unit of Neurosurgery Service, Mexico City, Mexico
Jesús Q. Beltrán, Stereotactic, Functional and Radiosurgery Unit of Neurosurgery Service, Mexico City, Mexico
Alfonso Ceniceros-Obregón, Faculty of Health Sciences; Alpha Health Sciences Leadership Program. Universidad Anahuac; Mexico City, Mexico
Luis M. Rodríguez-Serrano, Faculty of Psychology, Neuroscience Coordination, Universidad Anahuac. Mexico City, Mexico
José D. Carrillo-Ruiz, Stereotactic, Functional and Radiosurgery Unit of Neurosurgery Service; Research Direction. Hospital General de México Dr. Eduardo Liceaga, Secretaría de Salud; Faculty of Psychology, Neuroscience Coordination, Universidad Anahuac. Mexico City, Mexico

Introduction: Neuropathic pain occurs due to algogenic stimuli in the nervous system. The sciatic nerve constriction is one of the most popular models used to understand neuropathic pain in rats. Objective: Describe different techniques to measure neuropathic pain in rats. Materials and methods: The platforms of PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar were used to identify the way of measuring neuropathic pain in rats using the sciatic nerve constriction technique (Bennett technique) between 1988 and 2024. Boolean operators and medical subject headings terms were used to search papers including “neuropathic pain,” “sciatic constriction,” “rats,” “measurement” and “evaluation.” The inclusion criteria were: (1) Studies in rats (2)Use of sciatic nerve constriction technique as production of neuropathic pain (3) Measurement of neuropathic pain in rats. Exclusion criteria were: (1) Review articles and (2) Articles in a language other than English, French, or Spanish. (3) Incompleteor non-specific measurement articles. Results: Of 17,900 articles, a total of (n = 132) were selected in which neuropathic painwas measured in rats. The following percentages show the frequency of the forms of measurement used in the literature:(1)Von Frey Filament Test: 99 (75%) of the articles, (2) Hot stimuli: 80 (60.60%) of the items, (3) Cold score: 40 (30.30%) ofthe articles, (4) Pin Pricking: 5 (3.78%) of the items, and (5) Other forms of measurement: 41 (31.06%). Conclusion: There aremultiple tests to measure pain and can be used in therapeutic studies to improve pain. The Von Frey Filament test is the mostused technique to understand sensitive stimuli in constrictive sciatic neuropathic pain models in rats.