The laboratory is part of integrated pain management programs at NC State Veterinary Medicine.

Ongoing Research

Dr. B. Duncan X. Lascelles and research technician, Ms. Andrea Thomson

A note from Dr. Lascelles: “Sincere thanks to all I’ve worked with to understand and control pain in cats!! Let’s keep going!”  Read full article.

• Chronic musculoskeletal pain in cats

Thank you to our friends at VetPetz for helping us develop this educational video.

Our laboratory continues to work on understanding the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in cats, the radiographical features, and the etiology of the disease. We are developing valid subjective assessment tools for the assessment of chronic musculoskeletal pain in cats. We also have studies developing objective, non-invasive means of measuring mobility impairment in cats with chronic musculoskeletal pain. We use these tools to evaluate drug and non-drug treatments for musculoskeletal pain in cats. Other collaborative genomic and proteomic work involves elucidating the neurobiology of chronic pain in cats.

• Canine osteoarthritis: a model of human osteoarthritis pain
  Canine osteoarthritis is very similar to human osteoarthritis in many respects. We study naturally occurring canine osteoarthritis as a model of the human condition, and also so that our work is directly and immediately relevant to canine clinical pain. We are evaluating aspects of the neurobiology of pain in naturally occurring canine osteoarthritis, as a way of understanding how to better target treatments. Our laboratory uses a variety of validated subjective and objective outcome measures to assess putative analgesic drugs that may be developed for use. We also use these outcome measures to assess and refine current treatments for canine osteoarthritis pain.
• Gastrointestinal tract defense, the role of cyclooxygenase and the effects of combination analgesic regimens on this
  We are interested in learning more about the effects of analgesics on gut mucosal health in dogs. These laboratory studies help answer some fundamental and important clinical questions that will help develop safer regimens for analgesic use in dogs. These studies will also help elucidate some of the mechanisms underlying the gastrointestinal adverse effects of drugs and drug combinations in humans. Collaboration with the Gastrointestinal Physiology Lab at NCSU
• Early response of cartilage to trauma
  The end result of trauma to joints is osteoarthritis, and this is associated with pain. Understanding the early changes in cartilage in response to trauma may help us prevent or limit cartilage degradation, which leads to progressive joint disease. Collaborative work with the Poultry Genomic Laboratory and Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at NCSU uses an ex vivo model of cartilage trauma to understand the early genetic changes involved.
• Evaluation of activity in dogs with osteoarthritis

Wall of Fame

Trial participants are key to our success

Our thanks to all our feline friends that participated in studies to help alleviation of pain in pets! We couldn’t do our research without their participation in our clinical trials. Get to know some of the many wonderful felines who have helped make a difference.

Clinical Metrology Instruments

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Resources