Hot/Cold Plate Test

The hot/cold Plate test serves as a useful screening tool for interventions of analgesia in rodents.

• Digital temperature display mode
• Temperature range: 20 to 65 °C
• Temperature precision: 0.01 °C
• Temperature control stdev: <±0.2 °C
• Time display range: >10 hours
• Low, medium, and high warm-up time options

The hot/cold plate test is a gold standard thermal pain test in rodents and serves as a useful screening tool for interventions of analgesia. The rodent is placed into a chamber with a heated floor with surrounding clear acrylic walls. Two key behaviors are measured; paw licking and jumping. The hot/cold plate apparatus is composed of a transparent glass cylinder and a hot/cold plate. The plantar surface is a metal floor equipped with adjustable temperature control. The glass cylinder is used to limit the subject to the plate and prevent it from jumping off the apparatus while allowing an unobstructed view. The hot/cold plate test combines both cold and hot stimulus apparatus into a single unit. The cold plate test allows an understanding of animal sensitivity to cold temperatures that enables the assessment of cold-induced hyperalgesia and allodynia. The apparatus allows testing of unilateral pain quantification using the cold plate which isn’t possible with the hot plate test alone. The increase or decrease in the rate of cooling and heating allows observation of thermal stimulus temperatures that incite nocifensive responses. The apparatus is effective in the assessment of the effectiveness of analgesics.