Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Just wondering if there's any animal models (planaria, fruit flies, etc.) that cam be utilized in testing for an extract's analgesic or anti-inflammatory properties - or any testings or assays that will not involve mice or rats?

Hello,
Yes, nociception (or the process by which cells and tissues perceive and respond to pain-inducing stimulus) can be studied in small invertebrate animals like flies and worms. Here is an example of how these tiny model organisms are used in the field:
https://www.painresearchforum.org/news/ ... mall-scale

Here are a couple research papers using worms (C. elegans) that have discussed such experiments:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5189946/
https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/96/18/10477.full.pdf

The main concern regarding using these animal models for your study is that their reactions to pain will be very subtle to the human eye, and likely difficult to observe and quantify without laboratory equipment and computational power. If you are willing to share the hypothesis and a rough experimental plan, we may be able to help better.

Hope this helps! Good luck!
MS