Attenuated pain response of obese mice (B6.Cg-lepob) is affected by aging and leptin but not sex

Genetically obese mice (B6.Cg-lepob) manifest decreased responses to noxious thermal stimuli (hotplate test) suggesting endogenous analgesia (Roy et al., 1981). To examine further the analgesic response of these mice, we conducted 4 experiments. Experiment 1 assessed the response of ob/ob mice to tail flick, another noxious thermal test. Tail-flick testing was performed on B6.Cg-lepob mice (n = 14) and B6.Cg-lepOB/? (n = 12) across a range of temperatures. Ob/ob mice exhibited longer latencies than control mice at all temperatures tested. In Experiment 2, potential sex differences were examined. Tail-flick latencies in male and female ob/ob mice (n = 6/group) did not differ. The final 2 experiments examined factors that could modulate endogenous analgesia. Experiment 3 assessed the effects of aging in ob/ob mice (n = 10/group). Older mice displayed longer tail-flick latencies than did younger mice. Experiment 4 examined the effect of leptin administration in the leptin-deficient ob/ob mice. Two groups (n = 10/group) of ob/ob mice received osmotic pump implants filled with either leptin or vehicle, and were tail-flick tested at days 7 and 14 post-implantation. Ob/ob mice receiving leptin showed shorter latencies than did vehicle-receiving ob/ob mice. Taken together, these results support earlier reports of heightened analgesia in ob/ob mice and suggest that aging further reduces the already impaired pain response. Furthermore, leptin deficiency partially contributes to decreased pain sensation of ob/ob mice.