Ongoing pain in the MIA model of osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic pain condition characterized by pain during joint use as well as pain at rest (i.e., ongoing pain). Although injection of monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) into the intra-articular space of the rodent knee is a well established model of OA pain that is characterized by changes in weight bearing and hypersensitivity to tactile and thermal stimuli, it is not known if this procedure elicits ongoing pain. Further, the time-course and possible underlying mechanisms of these components of pain remain poorly understood. In these studies, we demonstrated the presence of ongoing pain in addition to changes in weight bearing and evoked hypersensitivity. Twenty-eight days following MIA injection, spinal clonidine blocked changes in weight bearing and thermal hypersensitivity and produced place preference indicating that MIA induces ongoing and evoked pain. These findings demonstrate the presence of ongoing pain in this model that is present at a late-time point after MIA allowing for mechanistic investigation.

Research highlights
► Intra-articular injection of MIA induces ongoing pain at 28 days following injection.
► Intra-articular MIA induces shift in weight bearing and evoked pain at 28 days following injection.
► Spinal clonidine blocks MIA-induced ongoing pain, shift in weight bearing, and evoked pain.
► MIA-induced ongoing and evoked pain at 28 days allowing for mechanistic investigation.