Ensuring animal welfare in biomedical research: pain relief and better quality report in scientific publications

• Ano de defesa: 2021
• Autor(a) principal: Laporte, Jilma Maria Aleman
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Analgesia; Animais de laboratório; Dor; Invasive procedures; Laboratory animals; Pain; Procedimentos invasivos; Reproducibility; Reprodutibilidade
• Link de acesso: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/10/10133/tde-16032022-070530/

The principle of refinement, described by Rusell and Burch in 1959, refers to improvements to animal welfare in studies, applying husbandry or procedures that minimize pain or distress. Therefore, the use of analgesic treatments in invasive procedures that anticipate pain, and the adequate reporting of all the procedures in scientific publication is necessary to guarantee animal welfare and get quality and reproducible results. Two of the most used biomodels in experimental surgery are the rat and the swine. In the case of the rat, one of the most common surgeries practiced in the field of neuroscience is the stereotaxic surgery. Swine is mostly used for the investigations of new surgical techniques. The objective of this study was to seek refinement through the use of analgesia evaluating its effect on behavior and effectiveness in avoiding pain, as well as the correct reporting of surgical procedures in two animal biomodels in order to guarantee the best conditions during their use. With this purpose, the study was divided in three chapters: In the first one, a battery of different behavioral tests [Open field (OF), elevated plus maze (EPM) and grooming transfer test (GTT)] were applied in naïve Wistar-Han rats that were previously injected with different analgesics [Dipyrone (DIP), Tramadol (TRA), Meloxicam (MEL), Dipyrone+Tramadol (DIP+TRA) and Meloxicam+Tramadol (MEL+TRA)] or Saline (SAL). DIP+TRA treatment led to the most significant alterations in rats′ behavior by reducing locomotion, rearing, and grooming. All treatment groups that received TRA reduced the grooming behavior in the open field and an increased locomotion was observed in rats with MEL treatment. In the second chapter, four groups of rats underwent craniotomy surgery and were treated with different analgesics (TRA, MEL, TRA+MEL) or SAL and one group was just anesthetized. After this, they were submitted to different behavioral (OF, GTT and use of Environmental Enrichment) and physiological tests (body weight lost, food and water intake) during the postoperative period (72 hours). Analgesics treated groups presented similar behavioral alterations to those occurred in the first study with the same analgesics. All groups that underwent surgery also presented alterations in behavioral tests during the first 48 hours, indicating that pain for craniotomy can last this period of time. The results of the behavioral tests did not allow us to conclude which was the best analgesic protocol, so further studies are needed. Although the use of analgesics can modify behavioral responses in the postoperative period, avoiding pain is an ethical duty and these alterations must be considered during experimental design planning. In the third chapter, 108 studies were analyzed based on the ARRIVE guidelines requirements. The majority of literature lacked of important information such as reports of anesthetic and analgesic protocols, sample size calculation and housing and husbandry details. The lack of information in scientific publications can lead in a poor reproducibility, for this reason good scientific report is essential for good science and consequently ensure animal welfare.