Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- > From: > http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4246199,00.html > > Cage life may drive lab animals so insane that experiments are invalid > James Meek > Guardian > > Tuesday August 28, 2001 > > It is a scientist's reward: after feeding a laboratory mouse an untried > medicine, or turning it into a cocaine addict, or flashing lights at it, the > rodent appears to get smarter, or slower, or more discerning. Do it a > hundred times, and you have got a research paper - or a billion-pound drug. > > But what if the mouse, in the bleak, confined circumstances of its > laboratory cage, has gone quietly insane before the experiment even begins? > > That is the possibility being raised by US scientists who say they have > found evidence that the sheer boredom of life as a captive lab animal may be > enough to incur brain damage. > > If true, it would call into question the validity of many experiments, > particularly in behavioural research where scientists draw conclusions based > on changes in the ability of rodents to carry out tasks. > > Joseph Garner, a behavioural scientist at the University of California, in > Davis, told a conference earlier this month that was evidence that a type of > repetitive behaviour called stereotypies, common in caged animals, was > caused by brain damage. In humans, stereotypies - rhythmic, involuntary > actions or repetitive limb movements - are believed to be linked to damage > in a part of the brain called the basal ganglia. Similar behaviour in lab > animals has up until now been thought of as superficial tics in normal > animals. > > But when Dr Garner applied a test for basal ganglia damage to caged parrots, > he found that the birds with a characteristic brain damaged response were > the same birds which displayed stereotypies such as feather plucking. He is > now applying the test to mice. > > The journal Nature, which reported on Dr Garner's work in a recent issue, > recalled that stereotypies in lab rodents were only discovered in 1996 when > a Swiss researcher used an infra red camera to find out what mice got up to > when their keepers switched off the lights and went home. > > In the darkness, the mice began an obsessive ritual of bar biting and cage > scratching - classic stereotypies. > > Underlining the possible link between the dull sameness of cage life and > mouse madness, the journal pointed out that studies last year showed making > life more interesting for lab animals, by allowing mice and rats to > socialise with siblings for instance, made the creatures' brains bigger. > > "I think it sounds reasonable," said Nick Neave, a behavioural psychologist > at the University of Northumbria. "We've known for many years that if you > give animals plenty of stimulation in a lab environment they behave > differently from animals in a bare cage. I think it does raise some very > important issues, not just ethically but scientifically, where scientists > are saying 'well, this means so and so', when it may not be so clear cut." > > The Home Office code of practice recommends that breeders and suppliers of > lab rodents give a single mouse 200sq cm of cage space, and a single rat > 500-800sq cm. The Home Office also recommends "cage enrichment" for > "environmental complexity". But this is not compulsory. > > Science or fiction? > > Work with lab animals, particularly mice and rats, is a staple of scientific > research. Here are the findings of three recent reports from the thousands > published each year: > > � In an attempt to show the effects of junk food on the brain, Canadian > scientists fed one group of young rats on fatty food for 12 weeks, with > another group being put on a low fat diet. They were then given a memory > test involving pressing a lever. The junk food rats were more forgetful. > Conclusion: junk food is bad for the memory. > > � Scientists in the US monitored the brain activity of rats while they ran > round a circular track to get food and then later while they slept. During > their slumber, the same brain cells fired as when they were running. > Conclusion: rats dream. > > � A New Jersey mouse, called Doogie, with a single added gene was able to > whiz through mazes and learn from experience significantly better than its > non-transgenic peers. > Conclusion: one day it may be possible to tinker with human genes to make > people cleverer. > ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
