The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing is an academic center affiliated with the Division of Toxicological Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Research Grants 2002-2003

Genomic Approaches to Defining Pain and Distress in Mice

Norman C. Peterson, DVM, PhD
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

This project will utilize micro-chip technology to simultaneously monitor the expression of thousands of genes in mice brains in response to inflammatory pain delivered to a hind paw. By using this technology to develop a "pain stimulus gene expression map", we will be able to better characterize pain perception in mice. Ultimately, this will provide us with a means to more objectively identify conditions that cause pain and distress in laboratory animals, and to develop specific methods/reagents that inhibit or alleviate it in animals and people.