Chronic pain is one of the hallmarks and most debilitating symptom of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Despite the recent advances in development of disease modifying drugs, pain remains a major unresolved need in the management of arthritis patients. RA pain may start even before the disease manifests, and frequently does not correlate with the degree of inflammation or pharmacological management. Thus, the functional links between arthritis pathology and establishment of peripheral and central sensitization represents an area of intense study.

Animal models have proven instrumental in providing key insights into the pathophysiology of RA. In this aspect, animal studies may also have the potential to provide new insights into the mechanisms that initiate and sustain pain in RA. The focus of this presentation is to describe the problem of RA pain and to give a brief overview of the most commonly uses animal models for studies of RA pathology, which have also been utilized in pain research. Furthermore, contemporary findings of inflammatory and non-inflammatory mechanisms of arthritis-induced pain will be highlighted.

Learning Objectives:
Upon completion, participants will be able to:

• Describe the progressive nature of the disease process of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and data suggesting that subgroups of early and long-term RA patients exhibit pain that is not mediated by inflammatory processes.
• Discuss commonly used animal models for studies of arthritis-induced pain and their pros and cons
• Summarize recent findings on inflammatory as well as non-inflammatory mechanisms of arthritis-induced pain.