Summaries of 2023 research
Lay summaries of research that involved animals in 2023.
As part of the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK, we provide lay summaries of research that involves animals for all new granted project licences.
Creation, breeding and maintenance of genetically altered rodents
What animals are you planning to use?
Rat and mice of various ages will be used. Some of the mice will be from established genetically altered (GA) lines.
For what purpose are the animals going to be used?
Most of the animals will be used in a range of project licences involved in medical research at Cardiff University. Animals will be bred and maintained for use on these other licences. Our transgenic portfolio also enables us to create novel GA models, cryopreserve embryos and sperm from GA animals and reconstitute GA lines when required.
What will be the harms to those animals and how will these be limited?
The largest proportion of animals accounted for under this project will be produced through natural breeding techniques and are likely to only experience mild effects. The animals with possible adverse phenotypes will be closely monitored for health and welfare issues. After establishing the genotype of these animals, they will be provided to the relevant research group for further study within the scope of other projects. Vasectomy and surgical procedures by which embryos are implanted into pseudopregnant recipients will result in a moderate level of pain. Possible adverse effects may include wound infection or an adverse reaction to anaesthesia. These will be minimised by using aseptic surgical techniques, analgesia and post-operative care. Any animal which cannot be used for scientific research will be humanely killed using a Home Office approved (Schedule 1) method.
What alternatives did you consider before embarking on the use of animals in your research?
As there are no non-animal alternatives, the use of the rodent model is needed to breed strains which show genotypes and/or phenotypes typical of human disease in order to help develop new novel therapeutics for the treatment of human disease. Many of the research projects will involve the use of in-vitro systems such as cell culture, human tissue assays, computer modelling to complement the animal work. However, the justification for using animals lies with the end users’ project licence having been subject to ethical, peer and Home Office approval before being granted.
What will be the expected benefits?
GA animals are an invaluable tool for understanding disease processes in man and animals and for the developing treatments and therapies for them. Several approaches exist to produce new GA models for disease research. These mainly rely on the ability to manipulate embryos at an early stage of development and then successfully produce offspring from those manipulated offspring. We can provide the skills, knowledge and specialist equipment required to efficiently produce animals carrying specific genetic alterations. Archiving GA lines as frozen embryos and/or sperm from modified lines not only helps reduce animal use by minimising the number of GA lines maintained but also facilitates the sharing of GA lines between researchers, providing further opportunities for reduction. Repositories will be available for future use to safeguard against the potential loss of a line which would be difficult to replace.
Responses of the cardiovascular system to trace amines
What animals are you planning to use?
Rats
For what purpose are the animals going to be used?
We will be using the animals to determine if we are able to use trace amines to support blood pressure when it is pathologically decreased as happens in septic shock. Currently, there are no effective medicines to treat the fall in blood pressure caused by septic shock, and this often results in patient death. Whilst the best option is to prevent patients from going into septic shock, it still happens, and patients will need rescuing.
What will be the harms to those animals and how will these be limited?
There are very limited harms experienced by animals. All experimentation will be carried out under general anaesthesia and animals will not be allowed to regain consciousness. Effectively, the only adverse event that would be experienced by animals is the initial injection to administer the general anaesthetic.
What alternatives did you consider before embarking on the use of animals in your research?
We considered using cultured cells and isolated organs. Unfortunately, neither method is suitable due to the requirement to have a functional circulation that is controlled by the brain to adequately replicate the situation patients with septic shock would be in.
What will be the expected benefits?
Potentially, we might be able to prevent patients from dying of septic shock due to their blood pressure falling too low. This would allow time for the underlying infection to be treated and for patients to recover.
Lay summaries by year
Consideration of the 3Rs is the basis of everything we do related to animal research.