Motor & Sensory Test Systems

Pressure Analgesia Meter

Testing induced pain in the rat or mouse paw

The SDI Pressure Analgesia Meter is designed for the Randal & Selitto test – a method for determining an animal’s pain threshold during the application of a uniformly increasing pressure.

The SDI Pressure Analgesia Meter stimulation unit allows the gradual increase (at selectable rates) of pressure being exerted over the animal’s paw. The pressure increase is produced by a stepper motor that controls the progressive advancement of a sliding support with conical tip that applies pressure to the paw placed on the platform below. The motor and tip unit is mounted on a pivoting stand to prevent excess pressure from being applied.

The SDI Pressure Analgesia Meter control unit manages the stimulation unit. The control unit’s digital display reveals the current tip pressure in grams throughout the course of the test and enables the researcher to adjust the force transducer, balance and zero the trial and set the stepper motor speed.

The stimulation unit is controlled by a foot switch pedal that when pressed turns on the motor and moves the stimulation tip down. An automatic system is activated once the distal extreme of the sliding support track is reached or when the footswitch pedal is released at the end of the test. After the footswitch pedal is released, the stepper motor reverses its rotation and the conic tip slides back up.

The final pressure value remains on the control unit’s digital display until a new trial is started. If the SeDaCom software is used with the Pressure Analgesia Meter, all data is captured during the trial and stored in an ASCII formatted file for further analysis.

Pressure Analgesia Meter Features

• User-selectable pressure rates
• Stepper motor automatically increases/decreases pressure
• Pivoting stand prevents excessive pressure on animal paws
• Control unit displays tip pressure throughout the test
• Foot pedal controls the stimulation unit to activate the motor
• Test data is automatically stored in an ASCII file format

Pressure Analgesia Meter Components

• Control Unit
• Stimulation Unit with conical tip and stepper motor
• Foot switch pedal
• Power Supply
• PC interface board
• Cables & connectors
• SeDaCom software

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