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Presentation
The "Rodent Pincher" allows calibrated forceps to induce quantifiable mechanical stimulation in the animal (rat) on a linear scale. The more suitable protocol was experimented by determining the effects of 3 repetitive measurements on the 2 hindpaws, respectively over long-term (9 days), mid-term (1 day) and short-term (2 hours). It was primarily developped as an analgesimeter (analgesia measurement instrument) for Nociceptive tests. In this specific use it represents an alternative to the "RANDALL & SELITTO" test.

Comparative studies have demonstrated the accuracy of this pincher-based analgesimeter for easy, fast and reproducible measures of mechanical pain threshold on rat limbs. Moreover, it allowed to perform rat analagesia testing with minimal constrain which reduces data variability.


Among those experimental research works (including a comparative test with the Randall and Sellito analgesimeter), one has been carried out by the team Prof. Poisbeau in the "Nociception & Pain" department of the "Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives" (INCI LC2-UMR 7618 CNRS/Université Louis pasteur) in Strasbourg.

This work has been described in 2 articles being published in December 2005 in international reviews including a controlling commitee.

• Methodological article: Luis-Delgado et al. (2005) J Pain
• Using the test on an original research work: Poisbeau et al. (2005,) J Neurosci

Operating principle
The pressure is applied in the "inter-digit" region. When used on the RAT the pressure can also be applied on the tail. The instrument displays the force at which the animal reacts and allows to report the nociception threshold.

Individual measurements (up to 100) are stored in internal memory, and can be dowloaded post experimen. Recently an embedded statistical computation has been included in the electronic device. This is a very usefull feature that as been very well received and used by users of large numbers of tests. The displays shows in real time the mean, standard deviation and variation coefficient from groups of animals (rats). This feature allows also to cancel any analgesia test not correctly performed.

These Components will make the analgesia measurement easier:
• Desktop stand for an easy reading
• Footswitch to tare the instrument at the start to keep hands free.
• The RS232 output to transfert displayed datas to a PC.

Option:
• Our optionnal RSIC software for Windows, sends directly the displayed values in an Excel (MS) sheet. This allows to have directly a ready report or further analysis, without any re-copy error. Supplied with an RS232 cable.
• External pod to display a led light or produce a sound when reaching a settable thresold of force.

Supplied with: carrying case, with 1 footswitch for zeroing the force and having the hands "free", with RS232 and battery charger. EMC controlled.