The Orofacial Stimulation Test by Ugo Basile measures hypersensitivity to thermal or mechanical stimulation of the trigeminal area.
Rats voluntarily contact a thermal or a mechanical stimulator with their vibrissal pad in order to access a food reward.
Metrics obtained are (1) the duration of feeding and (2) the number of feeding attempts, measured by interruption of an infrared beam traversing the opening to the reward.
Feeding duration and number of attempts are strongly dependent on changes in the applied thermal or mechanical stimulus.