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Ultrasound guided surgery as a refinement tool in oncology research

Refinement is one of the ethical pillars of the use of animals in research. Ultrasonography is currently used in human medicine as a surgical tool for guided biopsies and this idea can be applied to preclinical research thanks to the...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Disease/Experimental Model, Drug/Substance Administration, Imaging & Electrophysiological Recording, Surgery & Post-OpAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Serrano, C., Antonio, J. 2022. Ultrasound guided surgery as a refinement tool in oncology research. Animals 12(23), 3445.

Are currently selected laboratory animals useful in the research of how female hormones influence orthodontic biomechanics?

Animal testing was and remains the only method of introducing a certain treatment and medical procedure on humans. On the other hand, animals have their rights resulting from applicable legal acts, including Directive 2010/63/EU and, indirectly, the World Medical Association...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Disease/Experimental Model, Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General, Cat, Rabbit, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Peruga, M., Kawala, B., Sarul, M. et al. 2023. Are currently selected laboratory animals useful in the research of how female hormones influence orthodontic biomechanics? Animals 13(4), 629.

An ethics toolkit to support animal-centered research and design

Designers and researchers who work with animals need to employ an array of ethical competencies to guarantee the welfare of animals taking part in animal-centered research. The emerging field of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI), which deals with the design of animal-centered...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Regulations & Ethical Review, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General, Dog

Citation: Ruge, L., Mancini, C. 2022. An ethics toolkit to support animal-centered research and design. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 891493.

Validation of a 3D perfused cell culture platform as a tool for humanised preclinical drug testing in breast cancer using established cell lines and patient-derived tissues

3D cell culture models of cancer are currently being developed to recapitulate in vivo physiological conditions and to assess therapeutic responses. However, most models failed to incorporate the biochemical and biophysical stimuli from fluid flow. In this study, a three-dimensional...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Disease/Experimental ModelAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Liu, P., Roberts, S., Shoemaker, J. T. et al. 2023. Validation of a 3D perfused cell culture platform as a tool for humanised preclinical drug testing in breast cancer using established cell lines and patient-derived tissues. PLOS ONE 18(3), e0283044.

A model framework for the estimation of animal “suffering”: Its use in predicting and retrospectively assessing the impact of experiments on animals

This paper presents and illustrates, with a working example, a hypothesis for the assessment of ongoing severity before and during an experiment that will enable humane endpoints and intervention points to be applied accurately and reproducibly, as well as helping...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Humane Endpoint, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Morton, D. B. 2023. A model framework for the estimation of animal “suffering”: Its use in predicting and retrospectively assessing the impact of experiments on animals. Animals 13(5), 800.

A new strategy for animal research: Attending to dissent

Increasingly, ethical concepts ordinarily reserved for the human research setting have been applied to nonhuman animals in research. This comes at the same time as concerns mount over challenges in translating the results of biomedical research with animals to human...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Animal Training, Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Johnson, J. 2023. A new strategy for animal research: Attending to dissent. Animals 13(9), 1491.

Effects of castration and sterilization on baseline and response levels of cortisol—A case study in male guinea pigs

An uncontrolled reproduction of animals in human hands should be avoided. To meet this goal, animals are widely castrated, i.e., the gonads are completely removed. Since the gonads are the most important source of sex hormones, this is a serious...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Body Modification/Mutilation, ReproductionAnimal Type: All/General, Guinea Pig, Rodent

Citation: Kaiser, S., Korte, A., Wistuba, J. et al. 2023. Effects of castration and sterilization on baseline and response levels of cortisol—A case study in male guinea pigs. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 1093157.

Animal welfare considerations when conducting OECD test guideline inhalation and toxicokinetic studies for nanomaterials

The OECD test guidelines for animal experiments play an important role in evaluating the chemical hazards. Animal tests performed using OECD guidelines, especially when the good laboratory practice (GLP) principle is applied, reduce the duplication of toxicity testing and ensure...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Disease/Experimental ModelAnimal Type: All/General, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Chung, Y. H., Gulumian, M., Pleus, R. C. et al. 2022. Animal welfare considerations when conducting OECD test guideline inhalation and toxicokinetic studies for nanomaterials. Animals 12(23), 3305.

Designing animal-friendly behavioral tests for neuroscience research: The importance of an ethological approach

Behavioral tests have three key elements: (1) a motivating factor (what motivates the animal in the test); (2) an observable behavior (which behaviors we may expect the animal exhibits in response to the test); (3) a measurable outcome (a quantifiable...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Behavioral & Cognitive TestingAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: d'Isa, R., Gerlai, R. 2023. Designing animal-friendly behavioral tests for neuroscience research: The importance of an ethological approach. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 16, 1090248.

Investigating attentional scope as a novel indicator of emotional state in animals

In humans, contrasting emotional states can lead to a broadening or narrowing of attentional scope. Whether this is also the case in animals has yet to be investigated. If confirmed, measurement of attentional scope has potential as a novel cognitive...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General, Dog

Citation: Hamlaoui, A., Keeling, L., Burman, O. et al. 2022. Investigating attentional scope as a novel indicator of emotional state in animals. Scientific Reports 12(1), 17452.