AR - Animal Research

DVM
Animal Research
Partnership for Environmental Education and Rural

Health
Texas A&M University
http://peer.tamu.edu
Animals in Research
What is research?
Scholarly or scientific
investigation or
inquiry
Why do we use animals in
research?
• Scientists have developed many valuable non-
animal models (i.e., cell culture, computer) that
are useful for medical research, but these
models cannot imitate the complicated
processes that occur in a living system.
• Animals are similar to humans and are good
models when humans can’t be used.
– Animal life is based on the same
genetic, biochemical, and
physiological principles as human life.
Should We Use
Animals for Research?
Discovery requires research in biological

systems.
Do YOU want to be the first subject to

receive an unknown treatment?
Would you allow your daughter to use
mascara or other eye products that have
not been tested to be safe?
DVM
Research Conditions for Animals
Both animal welfare groups and animal

activists have made contributions to
improve awareness of the need for
humane research conditions for animals.
However, some animal activists have
gone to extremes to stop all animal
research regardless of its benefit to
animals and humans.
DVM
Is it good for some extremists among
animal-rights groups to commit
crimes to stop animal research?
They release They bully
animals from their researchers,
cages; this is a threaten their
problem because family, and this
there will be no hurts the very
one to care for people who want
them. to make life
They destroy
labs; this better for us all.
stops research
that could help
people.
DVM Raids by Animal-rights
Extremists
How do we choose
which animals to study?
• Diseases or body systems being studied

• Animals that are most similar to humans
• Animals that have been used in past
research on the topic in question
Human Responsibility
• Ethical treatment of animals means that
those animals used in testing should be
treated well.
• Monitored by Institutional Animal Care and
Use Committees.
• Ethical treatment of animals includes:
– Providing a comfortable living environment
– Minimizing discomfort from testing
– Humanely euthanizing animals
Federal Regulations
for Laboratory Animal Care
• Derived from the Animal Welfare Act, with

numerous amendments
• Enforced by U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
inspectors
• Each research entity must have protocols
approved by an independent panel of
reviewers.
Who benefits from animal
research?
Family
Friends
Pets
DVM
Heart Transplant
• Dr. Norman Shumway completed a heart
transplant in a dog in 1959.
• Eight years later Dr. Christiaan Branard
performed the first heart transplant in
humans.
• In 1968 Shumway completed the first human
heart transplant in the United States.
PDA Surgery Research
• A PDA is a heart defect found
when an artery that is supposed
to close at birth, stays open.
• About 50 out of every 10,000 puppies
are born with a PDA, compared to
about 2 out of every 10,000 in humans.
• Research into better surgical options for
puppies has greatly advanced human
treatments.
DVM
Vaccinations
The history of vaccines:
• The first attempt to protect against
infectious disease by vaccination was
done by Edward Jenner with the
cowpox virus in the 1790s.
• In the 1800s, Pasteur (who also
developed Pasteurization) developed
vaccines against rabies and anthrax.
Vaccinations
• Animals have been used to develop
multiple vaccines for use in humans.
–Anthrax: sheep (1880’s)
–Cholera: various animals (1885)
–Rabies: various animals (1885)
–Polio: monkeys (1949)(earlier
attempts with humans failed &
even caused polio)
Vaccinations
• By the 1900s, five vaccines were being
used against smallpox, cholera, typhoid
fever, rabies and the plague.
• In the 1970s, smallpox was eradicated by
global vaccination.
• Today, vaccines are still being developed
using new technologies such as
genetic engineering.
Vaccinations for Your Pets
• Rabies – for all pets!
• Dogs
– Parvovirus
– Distemper
• Cats
– Feline Leukemia Virus
– Panleukopenia
• Horses
– Tetanus - Encephalomyelitis
– West Nile Virus - Flu/Rhino
– Strangles
Rabies
DVM
• Rabies is a special
case because it is
lethal to pets and
people.
• All states require pets

to be vaccinated for
rabies.
How are vaccines made?
• Vaccines were originally made by injecting
viruses into chicken eggs, allowing them to
multiply and then removing them and
deactivating them to produce a vaccine.
• Some of the vaccines today
are still made this way,
while others have to be
grown in animal tissue
cultures.
Tissue Culture
Viruses are injected into cells
(preferably monkey kidney cells)
where they are allowed to grow and
are then removed.
Vaccine Efficacy:
Nobody wants to have
a vaccine given to
them, their family or
their pets without
knowing that it is
effective and safe.
There is only one way to ensure that a
vaccine is safe and that is to test it.
The best way to do this is to test it in
animals.
DVM
Eyes – cataract surgery
• Each year near 2.7 million Americans
have cataract surgery.
• It’s estimated that 80% of those over
65 have cataracts.
• Animal research has improved surgery
techniques in humans and animals.
DVM
Hip Replacement
• Because of animal research, both
people and animals needing hip
replacements have been able to walk
again.
• Over 100,000
people receive
hip replacements
each year.
DVM
Animal Use in Metabolic Research
• Metabolism of muscle (Hill, 1922: frog)
• Insulin & diabetes mechanisms (Banting, 1923: fish,
rabbit, dog)
• Growth-stimulating vitamins (Eijkman, 1929: chicken)
• Sugar metabolism, pituitary (Cori & Houssay, 1947:
frog, dog)
• Oxidative metabolism (Krebs,1953: pigeon)
• Nature of oxidative enzymes (Theorell, 1955: horse)
• Cholesterol & fat metabolism (Bloch, 1964: rat)
• Hormone mechanisms (Sutherland, 1971: various
mammals
• Antibody synthesis (Tonegawa, 1987: mouse)
DVM
N.I.H. Research
Using Animal Clones to

Generate Stem Cells
How Cloning Is Done
DVM
• Take a fertilized egg, suck out the nucleus with a

micropipette.
• Inject the empty egg with the nucleus from an
adult animal.
• Implant the egg into the uterus and let it develop
as an fetus.
• Low odds of success, but most domestic species
have been cloned at least once.
Note: armadillos give birth to four clones naturally.

Nobody knows how they do it.
Click here and here for more information

The Idea
DVM
• Injecting stem cells can repair damaged

organs.
• BUT– stem cells from another person or animal
carry surface molecules that may be attacked
by the recipient’s immune system.
• Researcher’s solution: clone a monkey from its
skin cells and harvest the embryo’s stem cells.
• These cells would not be attacked by the
immune system if injected back into the
monkey to repair a diseased organ.
Click here for more.

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DVM

Partnership for Environmental Education and Rural

Discovery requires research in biological

Do YOU want to be the first subject to

Research Conditions for Animals

Both animal welfare groups and animal

• Diseases or body systems being studied

• Derived from the Animal Welfare Act, with

• All states require pets

Using Animal Clones to

• Take a fertilized egg, suck out the nucleus with a

Note: armadillos give birth to four clones naturally.

Click here and here for more information

• Injecting stem cells can repair damaged

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