ARBEL: A Machine Learning Tool with Light-Based Image Analysis for Automatic Classification of 3D Pain Behaviors

A detailed analysis of pain-related behaviors in rodents is essential for exploring both the mechanisms of pain and evaluating analgesic efficacy. With the advancement of pose-estimation tools, automatic single-camera video animal behavior pipelines are growing and integrating rapidly into quantitative behavioral research. However, current existing algorithms do not consider an animal’s body-part contact intensity with- and distance from- the surface, a critical nuance for measuring certain pain-related responses like paw withdrawals (‘flinching’) with high accuracy and interpretability. Quantifying these bouts demands a high degree of attention to body part movement and currently relies on laborious and subjective human visual assessment. Here, we introduce a supervised machine learning algorithm, ARBEL: Automated Recognition of Behavior Enhanced with Light, that utilizes a combination of pose estimation together with a novel light-based analysis of body part pressure and distance from the surface, to automatically score pain-related behaviors in freely moving mice in three dimensions. We show the utility and accuracy of this algorithm for capturing a range of pain-related behavioral bouts using a bottom-up animal behavior platform, and its application for robust drug-screening. It allows for rapid objective pain behavior scoring over extended periods with high precision. This open-source algorithm is adaptable for detecting diverse behaviors across species and experimental platforms.