Mogil then sent the images to Craig's lab at UBC, where facial pain coding experts used them to develop the scale. Craig's team proposed that five facial features be scored: orbital tightening (eye closing), nose and cheek bulges and ear and whisker positions according to the severity of the stimulus. Craig's laboratory had previously established studying facial expression as the standard for assessing pain in human infants and others with verbal communication limitations. This work is an example of successful "bedside-to-bench" translation, where a technique known to be relevant in our species is adapted for use in laboratory experiments.

Continuing experiments in the lab will investigate whether the scale works equally well in other species, whether analgesic drugs given to mice after surgical procedures work well at their commonly prescribed doses, and whether mice can respond to the facial pain cues of other mice.

Source: University of British Columbia