Factors affecting the reliability of behavioral assessments for rodent osteoarthritis models

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.