animal ethics, research integrity, mice, protocol fidelity, institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC)
In a large university campus where faculty buildings are spread out over a wide area, the research animal facility is tucked away in a quiet corner of the campus grounds. The animal facility is a small, unobtrusive structure that mostly houses mice and rats in cages. The facility is staffed by personnel who take care of the animals but do not otherwise engage in any research activities. A veterinarian visits once a week to inspect the animals’ health but does not actively track any of the research in progress.
On the other side of the campus, a researcher is investigating new techniques to enhance fertility and in vitro fertilization in mammals, using mice as the animal model. The researcher supervises a team of postgraduate and undergraduate students from the school’s reproductive physiology department. One of the experiments underway is assessing a new formula for the hormone used to induce hyperovulation in young female adult mice. An undergraduate student is assigned the task of injecting the hormone into mice for 3 consecutive days. Because the animal facility is too far for the student to travel to between classes, the student asks for a ride from a postgraduate student in the program. They drive to the animal facility and transport the cages of mice back to their own lab, so the student does not need to miss class or skip injections. Although staff at the animal facility voice concerns about the mice being removed from the facility, they do not stop the students from doing so.
Back in their lab, the undergraduate student learns how to perform the injections and completes all the first-day mouse injections. To avoid transporting the mice again, the student wants to keep them housed in the lab but learns that the university’s institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) does not permit having live animals in any room other than what has been listed in the original IACUC animal use research protocol. The student’s lab has not been listed in this protocol. To try to accommodate this rule, the students put the mouse cages in the corridor instead, ensuring that the mice have sufficient food and water. The mice cages are left alone except for during the injections and postinjection observations, which take place in the students’ lab for about an hour at the same time each day.
Questions
Animal research ethics guidelines emphasise the importance of the 3R Principles (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) and obtaining IACUC approval. Has this research team and the staff at the animal facility adhered to the 3Rs and IACUC requirements? Discuss.
The student’s main focus appears to only be on the ability to perform the injections effectively, without any hassles. What else should they be thinking about?
What ethical concerns do you have about how the mice are being handled by the students? Why is it important to appropriately handle research animals?
As a colleague to the lead researcher, would you report these actions if you knew about them?
