Alternatives to animal testing: A review

With the advancement of development in research and medical technology the number of animals used in research has increased significantly. Every year millions of experiments are carried out over the world on animals. For a long time the distress, pain and death have been a debating issue. Beside the major concern of ethics there are few more disadvantages of animal experimentation like high costs, time consuming protocols and requirement of skilled manpower. To overcome the drawback associated with animal experiments and unethical procedures various alternatives were proposed. A strategy of 3 Rs i.e. reduction, refinement and replacement is being applied for laboratory use. To implement this strategy different methods and alternative organisms are applied. Up to some levels these methods provide an alternative means for the drug testing. A brief account of these alternative and advantages is discussed in this review. These approaches would give an insight into minimum use of these in scientific related experiments.

International Journal of Biological Innovations, 2019

The discovery of new drugs involves their testing on animals for efficacy as well as safety before the approval. Millions of animals are being sacrificed to fulfill this need. But experimentation on animals during the past years has created a matter of attention to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for better care and handling of animals. The main aim of these committees is to reduce and finally exclude the animal use from the area of research with appropriate alternatives. Various alternative methods and organisms have been implemented and used respectively in this aspect in the last few years. Alternatives of animals serve the same purpose as that of utilizing whole animal for testing. The techniques such as in vitro method, computer model, stem cell, alternative organisms, use of biotechnology etc. might eventually replace the use of animals for testing and these approaches may provide an insight to minimum utilization of animals in s cientific research. Some alternatives of animal testing have been discussed in this article with some examples.

International Journal of Research in Phytochemistry and Pharmacology, 2021

An English solicitor, Jeremy Bentham, disdained the unregulated use of livestock, in the literature of 1780, which cast doubt on the inability to pay morale to animals. Animal experiment was fundamental to scientific science during his life, but it has also been a question of heated popular and intellectual discourse from decades. Since then, general understanding and attitudes have strengthened against the unethical or cruel application of animals for research purposes. Russell & Burch provided in 1959 the principles set out during UFAW of the clinical lab method. The alternative measures, replacements, or non-animal steps shall be used as alternatives for live animal methods, or methods of measurement without live animal use. The term 'alternative' refers to approaches or strategies that substitute the overall use of laboratory animals, minimize the number of animals used, or enhance a current system or technology to reduce animal stress. In recent years, the creation of a...

Laboratory Animals, 1998

Whatever view is taken of the morality of using animals in scientific research and safety testing, it can generally be agreed that so long as such use continues, every effort should be made to keep animal suffering to a minimum. This is the thinking behind the 'Three Rs' of refinement, reduction and replacement of laboratory animal use. This paper concerns refinement. We recognize that the Three Rs are taken very seriously in many countries of the world [see for example a recent editorial in the journal Science (Goldberg et al. 1996)] and, although we have written this paper from our own perspective in the UK, its principles are generally applicable.

2005

A short description of the history of the 3Rs concept is given, which was developed as the scientific concept to refine, reduce and replace animal experiments by Russel and Burch more than 40 years ago. In addition, the legal framework in Europe for developing alternatives to animal experiments is given and the current status of in vitro systems in pharmacology and toxicology is described including an up-date on metabolising systems. The decrease in experimental animal numbers during the past decade inEurope is illustrated by the situation in Germany and the contribution of international harmonisation of test guidelines on reducing animal numbers in regulatory testing is described. A review of the de-velopment of the principles of experimental validation is given and the 3T3 NRU in vitro phototoxicity test is used as an example for a successful validation study, which led to the acceptance of the first in vitro toxicity test for regulatory purposes by the OECD. In addition, a promis...

Journal of Oral Tissue Engineering, 2009

Worldwide, animal use figures for scientific purposes have been conservatively estimated as approximately 127 million in 2005. Over 11 million living non-human vertebrates were used within Japan in 2004. This was second only to the USA, which used approximately 17 million animals in 2005. The scientific and regulatory limitations inherent within the use of animal models during human clinical and toxicological investigations are substantial, and increasingly recognized. A previous trend of decreasing animal use is reversing, largely due to increased use of genetically-modified animals, and the implementation of largescale chemical testing programs. These developments demonstrate the need for considerably greater awareness and implementation of the 3Rs the replacement, reduction and refinement of laboratory animal use within governmental, academic and commercial sectors. These principles are widely recognized as essential to good laboratory animal practice. They may increase research quality and the robustness of procedures; result in reduced timeframes and resource consumption; and provide more reliable human clinical and toxicological outcomes. An overview of 3Rs principles, and of strategies likely to increase their implementation, is therefore provided. Combinations of such strategies may have synergistic effects, improving scientific outcomes whilst decreasing animal use.

2016

Today in every new drug discovery countless monkeys, dogs, rats and other animals are burned, blinded, cut open, poisoned, starved and drugged behind closed laboratory doors. In most of drug study we obtained inaccurate result because of vast physiological variation of animal and human. Animal studies teach us nothing about the health of humans because human reactions to illness and medications are completely different from the reactions of other animals. different animal absorbs, metabolize and excrete substances differently than human do. After all of this we continuously used animals for experimentation at research centers and collages. so, why we can use animals. Nowadays several non-animal testing are available, they can't provide accurate result but provide comparable information about testing of drug. Today's most challenges about non animal experimental is to obtain accurate result. Vivisection in India is very careless. animals are yelled at, hit, left to suffer aft...

Humane Research Australia, 2019

An overview of human-relevant non-animal methods in biomedical research, testing, education and training - in plain English. Further, examples are provided of how these methods have been applied and been of benefit to humans.

BioEssays, 2007

Replacing animal procedures with methods such as cells and tissues in vitro, volunteer studies, physicochemical techniques and computer modelling, is driven by legislative, scientific and moral imperatives. Non‐animal approaches are now considered as advanced methods that can overcome many of the limitations of animal experiments. In testing medicines and chemicals, in vitro assays have spared hundreds of thousands of animals. In contrast, academic animal use continues to rise and the concept of replacement seems less well accepted in university research. Even so, some animal procedures have been replaced in neurological, reproductive and dentistry research and progress is being made in fields such as respiratory illnesses, pain and sepsis. Systematic reviews of the transferability of animal data to the clinical setting may encourage a fresh look for novel non‐animal methods and, as mainstream funding becomes available, more advances in replacement are expected. BioEssays 29:918–926...