Diurnal Variation in Mechanical Pain Threshold in Female Swiss Albino Mice in Hot and Humid Season

Abstract:

Pain is always subjective. Each individual learns the application of the word through life’s experiences related to injury. Biologists recognize that those stimuli which cause pain are liable to cause tissue damage. A diurnal rhythm is a periodic or rhythmic change in the physiological or behavioral characteristics of an organism with a periodicity of approximately 24hours which regulates behavior, organs and cells in living organisms, studies have highlighted the influence of circadian rhythms on pain sensitivity. The study, “Diurnal variation in mechanical pain threshold in female swiss albino mice” was used to examine the effect of diurnal variation on mechanically- induced pain in mice paw. Following the procedure of the Randall-Selitto test, twenty swiss albino mice were grouped into two (light and dark phase) and subjected to mechanical pain induced by an analgesiometer in the morning (light phase) and in the evening (dark phase) for a duration of two days. From the results obtained, it was seen that mechanical pain threshold was higher during the dark phase than in the light phase although it was not statistically significant. It may be concluded that mechanical pain threshold may exhibit diurnal or temporal fluctuation