A new study by researchers from McGill University and the University of British Columbia has revealed that just like humans, mice too express pain through facial expressions.

When subjected to moderate pain stimuli, mice showed discomfort through facial expressions in the same way humans do, McGill Psychology Prof. Jeffrey Mogil, UBC Psychology Prof. Kenneth Craig and their respective teams have discovered.

The study also details the development of a Mouse Grimace Scale that could inform better treatments for humans and improve conditions for lab animals.

Mogil said that because pain research relies heavily on rodent models, an accurate measurement of pain is paramount in understanding the most pervasive and important symptom of chronic pain, namely spontaneous pain.

Nature quoted Mogil as saying, "The Mouse Grimace Scale provides a measurement system that will both accelerate the development of new analgesics for humans, but also eliminate unnecessary suffering of laboratory mice in biomedical research. There are also serious implications for the improvement of veterinary care more generally."

This is the first time researchers have successfully developed a scale to measure spontaneous responses in animals that resemble human responses to those same painful states.

The researchers, for the study, analyzed images of mice before and during moderate pain stimuli - for example, the injection of dilute inflammatory substances, as are commonly used around the world for testing pain sensitivity in rodents.

The level of pain studied could be comparable to a headache or the pain associated with an inflamed and swollen finger easily treated by common analgesics like Aspirin or Tylenol, researchers said. (With Inputs from Agencies)