Animal Research Definition Flashcards
(10 cards)
What are the advantages of animal research?
• humans and animals are similar in terms of brain structure and genetically
• useful models to develop life-saving treatments for humans
• Allow longitudinal study across a whole life span
• animal research may be highly controlled, control confounding variables
e.g. “knockout” techniques to switch off the genes in the DNA sequence
(better control of variables–higher internal validity)
• animal subjects are relatively inexpensive and easily accessible
• Useful for genetic research: animals have a short life span, this allows researchers to see how behaviour changes from generation to generation
What are the disadvantages of animal research?
- low ecological validity as animals are tested in strictly controlled lab environment
- humans and animals are never exactly the same
- successful trials from animal research still need to be replicated with human to make sure the results are generalizable
- results from animal studies never directly applied to humans
- ethical considerations when using animal models
How does animal research provide insight for human behaviours?
•We share approximately 97.5% of our genes with mice and about 98.5% with Chimpanzees (we share apporx. 97~98% of genes with mice and chimps)
• Animal research is useful in genetics research for developing theories about human behaviour and treatment for human disorders.
- develop drugs and treatments
• It can help explain complex concepts in simpler ways
Not provide insight?
- the findings of animal studies lack external validity and cannot be generalized to humans because there are still some biological differences which should be considered
- Methodological flaws: lack of random assignment to groups, lack of same environment, unreliable measurement
Ethical guidelines: 3R
Replace animals with other alternatives.
Reduce the number of individual animals used.
Refine procedures to minimize suffering.
Ethical considerations in animal research
• Any animal study should be justified “with a clear scientific purpose”:
• Increase scientific knowledge of behaviour
• increase our understanding of a particular species
• give results that will benefit humans or other animals
• If non-human animals are chosen for research, it has to be ensured that the chosen species is the best choice to address the research question
• All animal research proposals must be submitted to the Ethics Committee prior to conducting the study
• Laboratory animals must be given humane care
• The experimental procedures should be designed in a way that minimizes discomfort of the animal
(researchers should first test the painful on themselves)
Animal research
an animal model is a concept that refers to using animal research to test a certain cause-effect hypothesis about a certain human behaviour
Ferguson et al
Hormones + Genetics
Social amnesia in mice lacking the oxytocin gene
A: to investigate the role of oxytocin in social memory in mice
M:
• Social familiarity in mice is based on olfactory cues, if a mouse meets the same species repeatedly, the olfactory time would decrease.
• 42 oxytocin gene knockout mice and 42 mice with normal genotype. All mice were male.
• Experiment and mixed design
• A female mouse was introduced into the home cage of the “participant” for one-minute.
• It was repeated four times with 10 minutes intervals between trials (“habituation trials”)
• The same mouse used on all four habituation trials
• Then a new mouse is introduced on the fifth trial (dishabituation)
• The researchers investigated the amount of time spent in nasal contact with the female mouse in order to operationalize the olfactory investigation
R:
• For the mice with normal genotype, there is a significant decrease in the duration of olfactory contact on each subsequent trial.
• On the fifth trial, dishabituation occurs and the duration of olfactory contact returned to the original level.
• Oxytocin gene knockout mice showed no habituation as they spent equal time when the female mouse was placed in the cage.
C:
• Oxytocin is necessary for the development of social memory in mice and it plays an important role in recognizing familiar members of the same species.
• The results could be used to treat autism.
E:
Strength:
Insight–human behavior:
• Knockout study–establish a direct relationship to test the role of oxytocin in behavior.
• In humans, the researchers can only temporarily control the level of oxytocin thus it is limited to short-term effects.
• In animals, it is possible to study the effects over the lifespan.
Limitation:
Ethics:
• Mice were specially bred and female oxytocin knockout mice could not foster offspring.
• Consider gene-environmet interaction
Rogers & Kesner
Acetylencoline(ACH)
Role: consolidation of memory in hippocampus, spatial memory
A: to determine the role of acetylcholine in the formation of spatial memory
P:
• 30 rats acclimate(be calmed down) to a maze by placing food in one of the corners, research begins when rats are comfortable with the maze
• The rats were randomly allocated to one of two conditions(they were injected with scoplamine blocks the ACH receptor sites and inhibits response or a saline solution placebo injection /make sure not responsible for a change in memory 10 minutes before running the maze)
• Encoding memory was assessed by the average number of errors made on the first five races
R: The sc group took longer and made more mistakes in the learning of the maze, no impact on the retrieval of memories had already been created
C:ACH may play an important role in the consolidation of spatial memories
E:
Strengths:
• a rigorously controlled experiment under a placebo condition-avoid the effect of confounding variables
• The degeneration of acetylcholine-releasing neurons has long been associated with Alzheimer’s disease, which is a loss initially of declarative memory and then of procedural memory.
• Strong applications–the development of treatment from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease
• randomly selected–animals are similar to humans
• Biologists believe that animals can serve as models for human physiology and behavior
Limitations:
• A reductionist approach to understand memory–didn’t explain the complexity of types and process of memory consolidation
• Oversimplification– It is difficult to separate different types of memories( e.g. special/ procedural/ declarative/ short-term/ long-term).
• ACH is not the only factor
• Ethics: injection of sc might cause harm in animals (no informed conscent)—whether or not their memory would return to normal
• low ecological validity
• Not generalizable to humans—cultural/ age/ gender bias
Stats on animal research
According to the global statistics on animal testing, it is estimated that 100 million enimals are experimented around the world every year. There are many animals could be used as models, the most common ones include mice and monkeys. Animal research is valuable is various areas and fields, such as developing fundamental knowledge of the role of genes, neurotransmitters and hormones on behavior, or using animal testing to finding a cure and treatment for a disease.
