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This chapter emphasizes
the following key concepts:
Model systems are research tools that
- approximate
relevant features of the disease under study. Studying such
features should advance the understanding of the pathogenesis
of signs and symptoms, or the processes responsible for the
disease in the first place.
- permit
the investigator to reduce the complexity of the biological
system under study.
- can
resolve the temporal sequence of events in the development
of poorly understood signs and symptoms.
- need
to be optimized in terms of experimental convenience and matters
of safety to study participants.
- require
validation relative to the disease under study. This includes
a valid description of the clinical phenomenon in question
using measures that are employed in both clinical and experimental
conditions.
The pain stimulus employed in a human experimental model system
should
be applied to subjects who demographically match
those vulnerable to the disease under study. The use of controls
provides insight into factors that contribute to the disease
in question.
be applied to the particular anatomical domain
and tissue affected by the disease under study because local
anatomical conditions can affect response.
cause minimal tissue damage.
predictably induce a state of pain that is relevant
for the disease under study.
cause a pain experience that is similar to the
clinical condition in terms of localization, sensation, and
affect.
be administered in a way that is appropriate to
the research question posed by the investigator.
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