Parturition in Mammals: Animal Models, Pain and Distress

Simple Summary:& nbsp;Labour is considered a painful episode where complex physiological, hormonal, morphological, and behavioural changes are present. During animal parturition, the recognition and treatment of pain is not a regular practice, although there are several consequences derived from pain in the mother and the newborn. This review discusses current knowledge about human labour pain, the relevant rat model's contribution to human labour pain, and model parturition pain mechanisms in small and large animals. Parturition's pain represents a potential welfare concern; therefore, pain indicators and appropriate analgesic therapy are also analyzed in this work including the relevance of analgesics and the welfare implications of pain during this physiological stage. & nbsp; Parturition is a complex physiological process and involves many hormonal, morphological, physiological, and behavioural changes. Labour is a crucial moment for numerous species and is usually the most painful experience in females. Contrary to the extensive research in humans, there are limited pain studies associated with the birth process in domestic animals. Nonetheless, awareness of parturition has increased among the public, owners, and the scientific community during recent years. Dystocia is a significant factor that increases the level of parturition pain. It is considered less common in polytocous species because newborns' number and small size might lead to the belief that the parturition process is less painful than in monotocous animal species and humans. This review aims to provide elements of the current knowledge about human labour pain (monotocous species), the relevant contribution of the rat model to human labour pain, and the current clinical and experimental knowledge of parturition pain mechanisms in domestic animals that support the fact that domestic polytocous species also experience pain. Moreover, both for women and domestic animal species, parturition's pain represents a potential welfare concern, and information on pain indicators and the appropriate analgesic therapy are discussed.

Automated summary

Labour is a painful episode involving multiple physiological, hormonal, morphological, and behavioral changes. Pain during parturition is a potential welfare concern for both women and domestic animals. Despite limited studies on pain during birth in domestic animals, there is a growing awareness of the importance of recognizing and treating pain during labour.