Occupational therapy incorporating animals for children with autism: A pilot investigation.

This investigation compared language use and social interaction in children with autism receiving two forms of occupational therapy: occupational therapy using standard techniques, and occupational therapy incorporating animals. Twenty-two children between the ages of 7 and 13 received both forms of therapy in a school-based occupational therapy program for children with autism. Results suggest that the children demonstrated significantly greater use of language and significantly greater social interaction in sessions incorporating animals when compared to sessions using exclusively standard occupational therapy techniques.

Spinal mu, delta and kappa opioids alter chemical, mechanical and thermal sensitivities in amphibians.

Previously we demonstrated the use of chemical (topical acetic acid), thermal (radiant heat) and mechanical (von Frey filament) stimuli as quantifiable behavioral response assays in the northern grass frog, Rana pipiens. Furthermore, response thresholds in all of these sensory modalities are significantly elevated by systemic morphine injections, which can be antagonized by naltrexone. The present study employed these three sensory assays to assess changes in chemical, mechanical and thermal sensitivities following spinal administration of mu, delta and kappa opioids.

Thermal, mechanical and chemical peripheral sensation in amphibians: opioid and adrenergic effects.

The acetic acid test (AAT) is a quantifiable assay of the response to noxious chemical stimuli on the hindlimb of the northern grass frog, Rana pipiens. AAT is sensitive to both opioid and adrenergic agonist modulation. The present study introduces the novel use of mechanical and thermal stimulus behavioral assays in comparison with the established acetic acid test in studying nociception in frogs.

Sciatic cryoneurolysis in rats: a model of sympathetically independent pain. Part 2: Adrenergic pharmacology.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility that sympathetic exacerbation of neuropathic pain activity may be mediated in part by the development of abnormal peripheral adrenergic mechanisms at the site of peripheral nerve injury. We evaluated changes in mechanical stimulation withdrawal thresholds before and after the delivery of selected alpha-adrenergic agonists and antagonists to the immediate area of a prior nerve injury in rats that had developed continuous mechanical allodynia subsequent to sciatic cryoneurolysis (SCN). Allodynia was attenuated (thresholds increased) after administration of the alpha 1 antagonist prazosin, but not the alpha 2 antagonist idazoxan.

Sciatic cryoneurolysis in rats: a model of sympathetically independent pain. Part 1: Effects of sympathectomy.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of preemptive and postlesion sympathectomy in the sciatic cryoneurolysis (SCN) model of neuropathic pain in rats. SCN in rats produces a prolonged significant mechanical allodynia (hypersensitivity to previously non-noxious mechanical stimuli) with no thermal hyperalgesia. In at least two other models, sympathectomy is effective in attenuating existing mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia or deterring their development after nerve injury.