Does the stress of laboratory life and experimentation on animals adversely affect research data? A critical review
- PMID: 30488713
- DOI: 10.1177/026119291804600501
Does the stress of laboratory life and experimentation on animals adversely affect research data? A critical review
Abstract
Recurrent acute and/or chronic stress can affect all vertebrate species, and can have serious consequences. It is increasingly and widely appreciated that laboratory animals experience significant and repeated stress, which is unavoidable and is caused by many aspects of laboratory life, such as captivity, transport, noise, handling, restraint and other procedures, as well as the experimental procedures applied to them. Such stress is difficult to mitigate, and lack of significant desensitisation/habituation can result in considerable psychological and physiological welfare problems, which are mediated by the activation of various neuroendocrine networks that have numerous and pervasive effects. Psychological damage can be reflected in stereotypical behaviours, including repetitive pacing and circling, and even self-harm. Physical consequences include adverse effects on immune function, inflammatory responses, metabolism, and disease susceptibility and progression. Further, some of these effects are epigenetic, and are therefore potentially transgenerational: the biology of animals whose parents/grandparents were wild-caught and/or have experienced chronic stress in laboratories could be altered, as compared to free-living individuals. It is argued that these effects must have consequences for the reliability of experimental data and their extrapolation to humans, and this may not be recognised sufficiently among those who use animals in experiments.
2018 FRAME.
Similar articles
-
Behavioral Management Programs to Promote Laboratory Animal Welfare.In: Weichbrod RH, Thompson GA, Norton JN, editors. Management of Animal Care and Use Programs in Research, Education, and Testing. 2nd edition. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; 2018. Chapter 5. In: Weichbrod RH, Thompson GA, Norton JN, editors. Management of Animal Care and Use Programs in Research, Education, and Testing. 2nd edition. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; 2018. Chapter 5. PMID: 29787205 Free Books & Documents. Review.
-
Does the stress inherent to laboratory life and experimentation on animals adversely affect research data?Altern Lab Anim. 2017 Dec;45(6):299-301. doi: 10.1177/026119291704500605. Altern Lab Anim. 2017. PMID: 29313701 No abstract available.
-
Family pediatrics: report of the Task Force on the Family.Pediatrics. 2003 Jun;111(6 Pt 2):1541-71. Pediatrics. 2003. PMID: 12777595
-
Species differences in responses to captivity: stress, welfare and the comparative method.Trends Ecol Evol. 2010 Dec;25(12):713-21. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2010.08.011. Epub 2010 Oct 16. Trends Ecol Evol. 2010. PMID: 20952089 Review.
-
The impact of light, noise, cage cleaning and in-house transport on welfare and stress of laboratory rats.Lab Anim. 2009 Oct;43(4):311-27. doi: 10.1258/la.2009.0080098. Epub 2009 Jun 8. Lab Anim. 2009. PMID: 19505937 Review.
Cited by
-
Making a case for the free exploratory paradigm: animal welfare-friendly assays that enhance heterozygosity and ecological validity.Front Behav Neurosci. 2023 Aug 3;17:1228478. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1228478. eCollection 2023. Front Behav Neurosci. 2023. PMID: 37600759 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
-
Effects of Nesting Material and Housing Parameters on Feed Wastage Behavior in Female Swiss Webster Mice.J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2024 Aug 20;63(5):495-503. doi: 10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-000010. Online ahead of print. J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2024. PMID: 39164068
-
Intraventricular Drug Delivery and Sampling for Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics Study.J Vis Exp. 2022 Mar 31;(181):10.3791/63540. doi: 10.3791/63540. J Vis Exp. 2022. PMID: 35435913 Free PMC article.
-
Monitoring daytime differences in moderate intensity exercise capacity using treadmill test and muscle dissection.STAR Protoc. 2021 Feb 5;2(1):100331. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100331. eCollection 2021 Mar 19. STAR Protoc. 2021. PMID: 33598660 Free PMC article.
-
Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress Model of Depression: Possible Sources of Poor Reproducibility and Latent Variables.Biology (Basel). 2022 Nov 6;11(11):1621. doi: 10.3390/biology11111621. Biology (Basel). 2022. PMID: 36358321 Free PMC article. Review.
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
