Is the use of animals in research necessary for development and advancement in biomedical research?
A lot of animals are used for different kinds of researches. Animal testing and research in developmental process is a subject of debate in public and among scientists. This paper explores whether it is necessary to use animals in research and advancement in biomedical research. This literature review highlights the use of animals in biomedical research and aims to provide arguments that show the alternatives of animal use in biomedical research. The review gives a brief introduction and history of different kinds of animals used for the research. Along with the history, statistical analysis of the use of different species, their relevance to the human genome and the role these species played in the advancement and research is also given in this paper. Moreover, different advantages and disadvantages of animal testing are discussed. The research also covers the limitations caused by scientists when they are doing animal experiments. The 3Rs guidelines for the use of animals in research are also given in this paper. The alternatives of animal use in research, their benefits and different methods are discussed in this literature review. Apart from all of this review, a well-defined conclusion that it is not necessary to use animals in research every time and these methods must be replaced with new and efficient alternative methods.
Use of Animals in Technological Advancements and Research
Introduction
Is the use of animals in research necessary for the development and advancement in biomedical research? Biomedical research is the scientific domain that studies the life processes, treatment and prevention of diseases, and the genetical and environmental factors that are related to the health and diseases. The human is a highly organized, complex and composed of unique cells that are working together to sustain life. The animal use in scientific research and development is a common practice nowadays. The scientist and researchers use animals not because they are considered an important tool in the improvement and understanding of biological structures in diseases and health. Because of the technological development, the discovery of investigative tools such non-invasive imaging computer models and cell cultures are powerful techniques in humanity’s arsenal against the war against the ignorance and diseases.
However, there is the strong evidence that the use of animals in research as there are many disadvantages and limitations associated with the biomedical research. Different non-human animals are being used in biomedical research. Different species are involved in the biomedical research such as rats, mice, rodents, zebrafish, and roundworms. This review will give the introduction to the use of different animal species in biomedical research and evaluates the advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of using animals in research. Moreover, the alternatives against the traditional research methods are also given. The review proves that there are many alternatives to the animal use in research.
Different Animals Species Used in Research
There are different animals’ species that are used in the biomedical research. The analysis of some of the common species used in biomedical research is stated below.
Rats: The rats are probably the first animal among mammals’ species that are used in the scientific research. Rats are considered the key model in biomedical research. They can be helpful in evaluating different human diseases such as behavioral neuroscience and cardiovascular research. There are different strains of rats available (Iannaccone and Jacob, 2009). The rats are used in pharmacology, toxicology, nutrition, immunology, and learning. Before rats, the use of mice was common in laboratories for testing. However, new research suggests that the rats were used at large scales for biomedical and scientific research after 1975. The statistical analysis of the use of rats is given in the chart 1 below.
Mice: Mice have been used since the 17th century but as the result of the increase in genetic and biological experiments (Crabbe, 2014). The reason behind their use is their smaller size, higher reproduction rate in less time and ease of handling makes them widely used the animal. According to research, Mice are used in more than 74.7 % animal research procedures. It became the most widely the early developments in gene targeting in an embryonic system and transgenic technologies is done with the help of mice. The mice are still used in the research. The below chart shows the use of rats and mice in different publications from 1975 to 2015.
Source: (Homberg et al., 2017)
Chart: 1: The above graph represents the use of mice and rats in different publications of PubMed. The graph represents that solid bars are mic while the open bars are rats. As the use of rats increased after 1970 in biomedical research, so the mouse is less used in the research. However, with the passage of time, the mice again gain their place in laboratories.
Zebra Fish: The zebrafish also known as Danio rerio is a model organism used in scientific research in the 1960s. The fish is found in water, and it is mostly found in southeast Asia. The fish is about 2.5 cm to 4 cm long. The fish is already being used in different processes such as processes behind the muscular dystrophy and cancer. Moreover, the scientists can publish its complete genome in 2013. There are about 84 % of genes in zebrafish that can be associated with the human genome. The zebrafish is also a vertebrate, and it has the same organs as humans. The organs include the blood, kidney, eyes, etc.
Moreover, according to the research (Santoriello and Zon, 2012), the zebrafish can repair its heart, and this mechanism can be introduced in humans too, and the scientist is already working on this. There are about 14000 genes mutations that are prepared from zebrafish. Because of its ability to give a large number of eggs the fish is considered important in research.
Round Worm: The Caenorhabditis elegance or C.elegans is roundworm used in the model systems for understanding the fundamental biological processes. The use of roundworm in the determination of first cell divisions of fertilized cells and nervous systems is of quite important. The first-round worm was used about 50 years ago in research. The genetic pattern of the roundworm is quite useful in studying the processes at the cellular level because of 959 somatic cells. There are different strains of roundworms used in the laboratory for testing(“Roundworms even more useful than researchers previously thought,” 2018.). However, the roundworms use is not as much as rats and mouse are used but they still considered important in animal testing.
Historical Use of Animals in Research
Humans have been using the animal species for a long time. The major role of animals was in the studying the anatomy and physiology. The ancient Greeks used some animals for different kinds of testing and observations(Hajar, 2011). Most of the research before the seventeenth century were based on the psychological experiments. However, after the 18th century, the use of domestic rats and other animals was introduced, and it was about the 80% of the total animal use in history. The fish, reptiles, and amphibians were about 9.6 % used while the birds were about 6.3% (Franco, 2013). There were different studies conducted on animals in schools, colleges and universities, defense establishments, and pharmaceutical companies (Franco, 2013). The animals were used for testing drugs, organs, toxicity, and other seizure processes(Hajar, 2011). This is also a fact that a lot of development is archived with these procedures, but now we have to look forward to making some better methods which eliminate the use of animals in testing.
The 3R’s use in Science
There are specific guidelines for the use of animals in scientific research. These are known as 3R’s (Fenwick et al., 2009). The implementation of 3R requires that in any biomedical research the animals are replaced with non-animal species, and it should be done on a priority basis(Hajar, 2011). Moreover, it is also necessary to reduce the number of animals needed in specific research in archiving the goals. And there must be the refining procedures, so the risk of suffering must be minimized (Fenwick et al., 2009). The Universities Federation of Animal Welfare proposed the 3R’s guidelines in 1954. The use of 3R’s is mostly referred to as the replacement. However, there is a much broader scope of this concept.
Replacement: The replacement refers to the use of other non-animal species in research and development(Hajar, 2011). Different replacement techniques can be used for this process. The replacement strategies include the perfused organs, tissue culture, subcellular fractions, and tissue slices (Fenwick et al., 2009). Moreover, it is also suggested that whenever it is possible, there must be the use of other species. However, it is also a fact that invertebrates are not considered as the suitable replacements for invertebrates.
Reduction: Reduction refers to the methods which help in misnaming the animal use per study. This can be archived with the help of the right choices of planning and strategies in the research and development (Fenwick et al., 2009). Another method can be the control of variations in the animal being used in research. Careful design and analysis of studies are also considered as the important tool in archiving the reduction. The modern imaging techniques having advanced statistical analysis methods also give the greater information per animal, and the animal is reduced.
Refinement: There are many arguments in replacing and reduction of animals in some specific scientific processes. However, it is also possible to make such procedures through which the species(Hajar, 2011).Different techniques for the refinement of procedures like suitable aesthetic and analgesic for pain relief, non-invasive techniques, training animals for different techniques such as blood sampling and providing the environment and housing provisions to the animals (Fenwick et al., 2009). The refinement doesn’t refer to the direct harm to the animal, but it also encompasses to the housing, breeding, and transportation
Advantages and Disadvantages of Animal Testing
Advantages: There are different advantages of the animal testing. The animal testing helps researchers to improve medicine and health and in finding medicine and health. Several medical treatments are improved with the help of medical treatments. Cancer, insulin, antibiotics, vaccines, and HIV drugs are made with the help of animal testing. Several tests cannot be performed directly in the human body, and the animal testing helps in performing these tests to save from any issue.
The safety of drugs is also insured with the help of animal testing. Several drugs can cause a quick reaction that can damage the human body badly. The test animals are used to check the doses and toxicity of drugs. There is also a strong argument they the alternative methods other than animal testing are not much significant for the medical goals. Moreover, there are different animals which have such genes that are helpful in the development of beneficial models for humans.
Disadvantages: There are several disadvantages of the animal testing. The animals are killed or kept in captivity for the biomedical research. Most of the animals get injured during transportation. And it can give them severe experience(Pound et al., 2004). Moreover, there are several medicines which make a good effect on humans may have remained limited because these caused the bad effect on animals. The negative image building of these drugs makes them vanished. Another issue related to animal use in biomedical research is the price of animal testing. Animal testing is very expensive, and it takes a lot of time in the development and testing on animals. However, this is a fact that animals and humans can never be the same. Always, there is no correlation between humans and animals. The natural human environment is different from animals in many ways. The length protocols of animal testing make it unfavorable technique in advance biomedical research.
Limitations of Animals in Research
There are different limitations to using animals in research. Statistics show that there is a loss of life lost associated with the testing of animals. The studies show that 92 % of the drugs that are passed through the animal tests are failed because of other complementary tests. Moreover, alone in the US only 60,000 deaths occur in 2004 because of Vioxx drug which was considered safe in different animal testings. Moreover, there are some other side effects such as different pains and increased stress levels in taking medicines passed by animal testing. There are also different economic costs. The animal research is a multi-billion dollar research industry that is consuming an of recourses and also generates big profits. The quick better, reliable in vitro tests are needed in place of animal’s tests, and they are considered reliable than animals test concerning their reaction and side effects.
Alternatives to Animal Testing
The replacements of animals do not mean putting the human patients at risk. The replacement of animals in testing can lead to the quality as well as the humanness of science. There are a lot of alternatives that are developed for the testing of animals for a different scientific process. There are different types of alternatives for the animal testing such as cell cultures, human tissues, computer models and voluntarily direct testing on humans.
Computer Models: The computer models are used as the alternative to the animal use in biomedical research. The computer model is the replicate of the different human organs such as the musculoskeletal system, lungs, skin, kidneys, and digestive system. These models can perform important experiments on the base of existing mathematical data and information. Different computer models are made to find asthma causes experimentally. Moreover, the computer models are designed for the construction of human metabolism model, and it helps to study the cardiovascular and plaque built-up risks. It also helps in the detection of drugs toxicity which was previously performed on different animals(McFarland et al., 2008).
There are some limitations in the computer models. The computer model cannot run as 1/10th of the brain of an actual mouse. However, some similarities can be compared with the actual mouse(Badyal and Desai, 2014). Scientists are quite sure of developing an advanced model that can run as fast as the mouse brain. Development of complete mental makeup of mouse will lead to proper testing as in the case of the real animal, and the animals can be saved for research processes. The computer model approach is very effective, but it will take some time to implement this in biomedical research completely(Badyal and Desai, 2014).
Cell Cultures: It is a fact that a lot of animal and human cells can be developed in the laboratory. There are different discoveries associated with the development of cells in structures. The Coax cells are developed in 3D structures such as different human organs they can develop the new test therapies(Doke and Dhawale, 2015). There different human cells that are used in creating different innovative devices such as “organs-on-a-chip” device. These devices can be used to study biological and disease processes without the use of humans. These devices are already used for the development of gut, kidney, lung, and heart(Liebsch et al., 2011). However, the ultimate goal in this technique is to complete a whole human on a chip(Arora et al., 2011). The cell cultures are proved to be developmental in different disease conditions such as kidney diseases, AIDS and cancers. These are also used in drug development, vaccine production, and safe chemical testing(Liebsch et al., 2011).
Direct Research on Human Volunteers: There are different methods which are directly used on humans and known as micro-dosing. In this technique, smaller doses of new drugs can be given to volunteer humans to check its effect on their health(Combes et al., 2003). The micro doses are radio-labeled, injection into humans’ volunteers and with the use of the sensitive measuring machine known as accelerator mass spectrometer the results are measured(Combes et al., 2003).
These techniques also provide the important information for the humans for different diseases and health concerns. The rapid advancements in the technology have headed to the sophisticated scanning machines and record techniques that can be used with the help of volunteer’s humans. Different brain imaging machines can give a clear brain image can be used to see the treatment and progression of brain diseases. The diseased person is compared with the normal person, and then the solution is suggested(Watts, 2007). If compared with the history, different discoveries are associated with the volunteer human testing. The production of insulin, deep brain stimulation electrode, the anesthetic effect of laughing gas and many other solutions and medicines are discovered with human volunteer techniques.
Conclusion
The use of animals in research and biomedical research is an old method and no doubt, a lot of developments are made with the help of these methods. These methods proved to be significant in suggesting the cure for several health issues and in the development of different drugs. Most of the animals used in the researches are mice, rats, rodents, zebrafish, and worms, etc. Along with the benefits, there are several disadvantages of this technique such as it is a time consuming and expensive technique. As the technological development makes this world so fast and there is no space for the conventional methods for the testing and developments so the animal use in different procedures must be stopped.
There are several new techniques such as cell cultures, computer models and testing on volunteer humans. These all techniques need improvements, but still, they are better and reliable than the animal testing. The 3Rs for the use of animals in the biomedical research also suggests the minimal use of animals in biomedical research, and it also forces to make such procedures which are ethically right, and they give less severity to animals during testing. Form all this review it can be confirmed that the animal testing is not necessary for the biomedical research because of different better alternatives.
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