The translational value of osteoarthritis (OA) models is often debated because numerous studies have shown that animal models frequently fail to predict the efficacy of therapies in humans. In part, this failing may be due to the paucity of preclinical studies that include behavioral assessments in their metrics. Behavioral assessments of animal OA models can provide valuable data on the pain and disability associated with disease-sequelae of significant clinical relevance. Clinical definitions of efficacy for OA therapeutics often center on their palliative effects. Thus, the widespread inclusion of behaviors indicative of pain and disability in preclinical animal studies may contribute to greater success identifying clinically relevant interventions. Unfortunately, studies that include behavioral assays still frequently encounter pitfalls in assay selection, protocol consistency, and data/methods transparency. Targeted selection of behavioral assays, with consideration of the array of clinical OA phenotypes and the limitations of individual behavioral assays, is necessary to identify clinically relevant outcomes in OA animal models appropriately. Furthermore, to facilitate accurate comparisons across research groups and studies, it is necessary to improve the transparency of methods. Finally, establishing agreed-upon and clear definitions of behavioral data will reduce the convolution of data both within and between studies. Improvement in these areas is critical to the continued benefit of preclinical animal studies as translationally relevant data in OA research. As such, this review highlights the current state of behavioral analyses in preclinical OA models.

中文翻译：

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影响啮齿动物骨关节炎模型行为评估可靠性的因素。

骨关节炎 (OA) 模型的转化价值经常受到争议，因为大量研究表明动物模型经常无法预测人类治疗的效果。在某种程度上，这种失败可能是由于缺乏将行为评估纳入指标的临床前研究。动物 OA 模型的行为评估可以提供与具有重要临床意义的疾病后遗症相关的疼痛和残疾的有价值的数据。骨关节炎治疗疗效的临床定义通常集中在其姑息治疗效果上。因此，在临床前动物研究中广泛纳入表明疼痛和残疾的行为可能有助于更大程度地成功确定临床相关干预措施。不幸的是，包括行为测定的研究仍然经常在测定选择、方案一致性和数据/方法透明度方面遇到陷阱。考虑到一系列临床 OA 表型和个体行为测定的局限性，有针对性地选择行为测定，对于适当识别 OA 动物模型中的临床相关结果是必要的。此外，为了促进研究组和研究之间的准确比较，有必要提高方法的透明度。最后，建立一致同意的、明确的行为数据定义将减少研究内部和研究之间的数据卷积。这些领域的改进对于临床前动物研究作为 OA 研究中转化相关数据的持续效益至关重要。因此，本综述强调了临床前 OA 模型中行为分析的现状。