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Animal welfare in studies on murine tuberculosis: assessing progress over a 12-year period and the need for further improvement
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 10, p e47723 (2012), PLoS ONE, Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal, Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP), instacron:RCAAP
- Publication Year :
- 2012
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2012.
-
Abstract
- There is growing concern over the welfare of animals used in research, in particular when these animals develop pathology. The present study aims to identify the main sources of animal distress and to assess the possible implementation of refinement measures in experimental infection research, using mouse models of tuberculosis (TB) as a case study. This choice is based on the historical relevance of mouse studies in understanding the disease and the present and long-standing impact of TB on a global scale. Literature published between 1997 and 2009 was analysed, focusing on the welfare impact on the animals used and the implementation of refinement measures to reduce this impact. In this 12-year period, we observed a rise in reports of ethical approval of experiments. The proportion of studies classified into the most severe category did however not change significantly over the studied period. Information on important research parameters, such as method for euthanasia or sex of the animals, were absent in a substantial number of papers. Overall, this study shows that progress has been made in the application of humane endpoints in TB research, but that a considerable potential for improvement remains.<br />Nuno H. Franco is funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (SFRH/BD/38337/2007). This work is funded by FEDER funds through the Operational Competitiveness Programme - COMPETE and by national funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under the project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-022718 (PEst-C/SAU/LA0002/2011.
- Subjects :
- Bacterial Diseases
Mouse
lcsh:Medicine
Pathogenesis
Disease
Mice
0302 clinical medicine
Animal welfare
Medicine
Animal testing
lcsh:Science
Immune Response
Animal Management
media_common
0303 health sciences
Multidisciplinary
Animal Models
Research Assessment
3. Good health
Distress
Infectious Diseases
Scale (social sciences)
Research Article
Animal Experimentation
Tuberculosis
Science Policy
Animal Types
media_common.quotation_subject
Immunology
Animal Welfare
Microbiology
03 medical and health sciences
Model Organisms
Environmental health
Animals
Laboratory Animals
Biology
Microbial Pathogens
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary
030304 developmental biology
Research ethics
Science & Technology
Chi-Square Distribution
Research Monitoring
business.industry
lcsh:R
Bioethics
medicine.disease
Disease Models, Animal
Models of infection
Animal Studies
Veterinary Science
lcsh:Q
business
Welfare
030215 immunology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 7
- Issue :
- 10
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b55db0273979dc3d5c11f144f3c1434e