ANALGESICS IN MICE USED IN CANCER-RESEARCH - REDUCTION OF DISCOMFORT

During the last decades, an increase is apparent in the use of analges ics for laboratory animals in situations where this was previously con sidered unnecessary. Mice with advanced tumours often show clear signs of discomfort which may be a result of chronic pain or a result of ge neral ill-being. The syngeneic murine tumour model most frequently use d in our experiments was used to investigate whether this discomfort c an be reduced with an analgesic. Twenty DBA/2 mice bearing SL2 lymphom a were given 0.5 mg/kg buprenorphine (Temgesic(R)) in food gel twice d aily, 20 tumour-bearing mice were given control food gel at the same t imes. Indicators of well-being were monitored daily. These included be havioural parameters such as exploration, grooming, and posture; food and water consumption and fur quality. All mice showed a clear increas e of discomfort with time: explorative behaviours and grooming decreas ed, while sitting in hunched posture increased. Food and water consump tion and fur quality also decreased. Major significant differences bet ween the buprenorphine treated group and the control group were not ap parent. In conclusion, we could not document a positive effect or bupr enorphine on discomfort in mice as evaluated by our scoring system. It remains possible that pain itself was not the primary cause of the di scomfort in mice bearing these tumours, or that the analgesic effect o f buprenorphine was insufficient under these circumstances.