You’re listening to the March episode of 3 Minute 3Rs.
The papers behind the pod:
1. Novel three-dimensional biochip pulmonary sarcoidosis model. PLoS One https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0245805
2. A new group housing approach for non-human primate metabolism studies. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vascn.2020.106947
3. The contribution of environmental enrichment to phenotypic variation in mice and rats. eNeuro https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0539-20.2021
Transcript:
It’s the 3rd Thursday of March and you’re listening to 3 Minute 3Rs, your monthly recap of efforts to replace, reduce, and refine the use of animals in research. This month, we’ve got two refinements to cover – a paper for primates and one for rodents too. But first, let’s have some lung chips.
[NC3Rs]
Despite being first described towards the end of the 19th century, a lot about sarcoidosis remains unknown. The granulomas characteristic of the disease can affect almost any organ in the body, but the lung is most commonly affected, and associated with the highest morbidity and mortality in patients.
Pulmonary granulomas can be modelled in animals, but as there is no known specific genetic component, transgenic animals representing the human condition cannot be easily created. Instead, animals are typically pre-sensitised to environmental agents, such as bacteria, and then repeatedly exposed to the same antigens to form granulomas.
Using organ-on-a-chip technology, Calcagno et al introduced granulomas, isolated from patient blood samples, to its air-lung interface. They were able to detect macrophages and lymphocytes from the developed granulomas in the interface and inflammatory cytokines being released into the culture media. As well as better understanding the mechanisms behind sarcoidosis, the system can also be used to develop new treatments, with high-throughput potential and AI compatibility. You can read more about the method by following the link in the description.
Next up, thinking beyond single housing
[NA3RsC] Before new drugs are approved by regulatory bodies, they must undergo testing to understand their absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. This is a key step in assuring their safety and efficacy. Sometimes, when there is no scientific alternative, non-human primates are used for these tests.
Traditionally, for metabolism studies animals are singly-housed in cages that limit normal vertical movement & social behaviors which negatively impacts welfare. However, recently, Novo Nordisk, Covance, & other collaborators worked together to design a refined group housing metabolism cage. This cage has extensive advantages such as more space, better socialization, and less stress. Importantly, excretion data from this cage is comparable to the singly housed cages which supports its suitability for future metabolism studies.
To read more, see the full paper online.
And finally, a reminder that enrichment is a good thing.
[LA] Researchers often to want to control as many variables as they can in their experiments. However, providing environmental enrichment is beneficial for the welfare of...
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Assessing enrichment, consolidating animal research guidance and understanding mouse aggression
Replacing animal-derived reagents, simulating in utero microinjections and clicker training for mouse gait assessment
Kidney organoid vascularisation, implementing masking and quantitatively assessing experiment severity
Assessing pain, living systematic reviews and inducing focal hypoxia in human neurons
Statistical planning, human cell cultures for toxoplasma and preventing boredom in laboratory rodents
Larger species refinement special: improving the welfare of rabbits, non-human primates and sheep
Better behavioural research, imaging with microbots and how housing density affects mouse microbiomes
3Rs Prize: A benchtop organ-on-a-chip fabrication method and an ex vivo model of focal demyelination
Humane intervention points, virtual gene knockout and ex vivo brain slices for Parkinson's research
Microbrains for neurotoxicity testing, improved experimental design, and post-op severity assessment
How environment and experimenter affect reproducibility, ex vivo adipocytes, and rodent enrichment
Replacement methods for drug development, toxicology testing and cardiovascular research
Issues with conventional rodent housing, playpens for rats, and using sleep to assess welfare
Reproducibility in cancer biology, training rats for refined fMRI, and playpens for mice
Refining anaesthesia and euthanasia for zebrafish and mice
Discover the winners of this year's Global AAALAC/IQ Awards
People and strategies behind 3Rs science: compassion fatigue, culture of care and systematic reviews
3 Minute 3Rs September 2021
3 Minute 3Rs August 2021
3 Minute 3Rs July 2021
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