A Move Toward Sex Equality in Preclinical Research | Pain Research Forum

Women suffer from chronic pain conditions in far greater numbers than do men, and recent research suggests that the basic biology of men's and women's experiences of pain might differ. Yet the overwhelming majority of basic pain studies are performed on male animals and male-derived cells. That is set to change, at least for researchers funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), with new NIH guidelines mandating equal representation of both sexes in preclinical research. NIH director Francis Collins and Janine Clayton, director of the NIH's Office of Research on Women's Health, Bethesda, US, outlined the new policy in a commentary published May 14 in Nature. According to the commentary, "The NIH is now developing policies that require [grant] applicants to report their plans for the balance of male and female cells and animals in preclinical studies in all future applications, unless sex-specific inclusion is unwarranted," such as in research of diseases affecting only males or only females. The move will surely benefit women in the long run, said Rebecca Craft, who studies sex differences in pain at Washington State University Pullman, US. "This [policy] is finally going to hold people's feet to the fire to test female [animals]," Craft told PRF. Jeffrey Mogil at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, also praised the new policy, which he described as particularly relevant to pain research. "There are huge, striking sex differences in pain—big stuff...
Source: Psychology of Pain - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs