Attitudes in China toward the use of animals in laboratory research

Public support is a strong impetus for the adoption of alternatives to laboratory animals. It is therefore important to find out what a society thinks about ethical animal use. In the case of China, a useful line of enquiry was to survey Chinese people's as their country is renowned for the deplorable conditions under which animals are kept. This report concerns an investigation into the attitudes of Chinese university students toward the use of animals in laboratory research. The survey revealed a moderate concern amongst students; for example, they agreed that the use of animals for testing cosmetics and household products is unnecessary and should be stopped, and disagreed that humans have the right to use animals as they see fit. This finding is very encouraging. Further research is needed, in order to understand Chinese views about the justification of using animals in research.     

Animal flight dynamics I. Stability in gliding flight

Stability is as essential to flying as lift itself, but previous discussions of how flying animals maintain stability have been limited in both number and scope. By developing the pitching moment equations for gliding animals and by discussing potential sources of roll and yaw stability, we consider the various sources of static stability used by gliding animals. We find that gliding animals differ markedly from aircraft in how they maintain stability. In particular, the pendulum stability provided when the centre of gravity lies below the wings is a much more important source of stability in flying animals than in most conventional aircraft. Drag-based stability also appears to be important for many gliding animals, whereas in aircraft, drag is usually kept to a minimum. One unexpected consequence of these differences is that the golden measure of static pitching stability in aircraft--the static margin--can only strictly be applied to flying animals if the equilibrium angle of attack is specified. We also derive several rules of thumb by which stable fliers can be identified. Stable fliers are expected to exhibit one or more of the following features: (1) Wings that are swept forward in slow flight. (2) Wings that are twisted down at the tips when swept back (wash-out) and twisted up at the tips when swept forwards (wash-in). (3) Additional lifting surfaces (canard, hindwings or a tail) inclined nose-up to the main wing if they lie forward of it, and nose-down if they lie behind it (longitudinal dihedral). Each of these predictions is directional--the opposite is expected to apply in unstable animals. In addition, animals with reduced stability are expected to display direct flight patterns in turbulent conditions, in contrast to the erratic flight patterns predicted for stable animals, in which large restoring forces are generated. Using these predictions, we find that flying animals possess a far higher degree of inherent stability than has generally been recognized. This conclusion is reinforced by measurements of the relative positions of the centres of gravity and lift in birds, which suggest that the wings alone may be sufficient to provide longitudinal static stability. Birds may therefore resemble tailless aircraft more closely than conventional aircraft with a tailplane.     

Modelling Ex Situ Animal Behaviour and Communication

Communication and behaviour of animals living ex situ has been one of the major sources of knowledge about wild animals. Nevertheless, it is also acknowledged that depending on the environment that the animals inhabit (or are kept in), there are differences in their communication and behaviour. With some species (especially large mammals) it is difficult to reproduce their natural environment to an extent that excludes deviations from the behaviour and communication exhibited by animals living in situ. In zoological gardens, welfare measures are introduced in order to counteract the effects of the captive environment and to grant an individual’s good physical and psychological well-being. The relation between good welfare and species-specific communication and behaviour is discussed, and as a result, a general model of ex situ animal communication and behaviour is proposed. The suggested model is inclusive of differences between captive animals and free-ranging animals and serves to explain the welfare-related reasons underlying individual animal’s deviations from species-specific behaviour and communication.     

The rise of bilaterians: a few closing comments

Freeman (2009, 2010) argue that Ediacara “faunas” should be analysed using “promorphologies” of extant animals, that rangeomorphs and erniettomorphs are colonial animals, and that Vernanimalcula is a bilaterian animal. Recent studies of Ediacara fossils have provided multiple lines of evidence that these fossils represent a sample of phylogenetically diverse marine organisms that included crown-group animals as well as stem-group animals and non-animals. Thus, it is inappropriate to analyse Ediacara fossils using “promorphologies” of extant animals. The interpretation of rangeomorphs and erniettomorphs as colonial animals is inconsistent with the functional morphologies of these Ediacara fossils. Although Vernanimalcula is a fossil, the purported germ layers of Vernanimalcula are of diagenetic origin and there is no morphological evidence in support of its bilaterian affinity.     

Effects of Competition on Optimal Patch Leaving: A War of Attrition

When resources are patchily distributed, animals have to decide when to leave a patch to find a new one. We model this leaving decision for any number n≥2 of animals per patch as a new version of the war of attrition. First, we consider a particular patch and assume that the animals get a fixed gain rate after leaving this patch. In this case, the optimal leaving strategy depends on whether or not there is interference. Without interference, ah animals should leave simultaneously according to the marginal value theorem. With interference, only n−K animals leave simultaneously, where K is a certain number independent of n, and the evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) of the remaining K animals is stochastic. As a consequence, they may leave at different times, and stay longer than is expected from the marginal value theorem. As the degree of interference increases more animals leave simultaneously, and the leaving tendency of the remaining ones increases as well. The only effect of increasing n is that more animals leave simultaneously. Finally, we discuss in a heuristic way how to use these results in case the gain rate that the animals get after leaving the patch is not fixed but depends on the leaving strategy that is used. When there is no interference, the generalization is straightforward. When there is interference, however, complications arise in deriving the ESS, since the presence of mutants may change the average gain rate in the habitat in such a way that mutants have an advantage over residents. This type of complication also occurs in other ESS derivations where local effects have a strong influence.     

Social Monitoring Reflects Dominance Relationships in a Small Captive Group of Brown Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella)

In several studies of social monitoring in primates, subordinate animals directed more visual attention toward dominant animals than vice versa. This behavior is thought to enable subordinate animals to avoid conflict. We sought to clarify whether visual attention behavior functions in this manner in a small captive group of brown capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella. We tested the hypothesis that social monitoring is related to dominance status. Dominance status was determined based on the directionality of aggressive behavior, and visual attention was quantified by using focal animal sampling. Subordinate animals directed significantly more visual attention toward others than dominant animals. Subordinate animals also looked more frequently at the animals that attacked them and others the most. The results indicate that social monitoring behavior in this captive group was driven by conflict‐avoidance.     

The pleiotropic effect of selection for behavior on coat color in grey rats (Rattus norvegicus)

The effects of selection for a type of behavior relative to humans (tame and aggressive) on the intensity of coat color in agouti rats with the AAHH genotype were studied. Animals that were not under selection for behavior (wild animals) were used as the control. Morphometric analysis of the hair parameters that influence the intensity of coat color demonstrated that, on the one hand, polymorphism in the main coat color exists in the population of wild agouti rats, that is, both light and dark agouti animals exist. On the other hand, it was demonstrated that selection for a type of behavior in rats is accompanied by selection of animals that differ in the intensity of the main genetically identical coat color. Dark-colored animals are more prevelent among the aggressive animals, while light-colored animals prevail among tame animals. The association of the effects of selection for behavior with the modification of coat color is probably caused by the presence of common neurohormonal mechanisms for the regulation of these processes.     

Perception of a Common Fate in Human—Animal Relations and its Relevance to our Concern for Animals

ABSTRACT

Considering violence against animals and violence against people as one and the same problem presupposes a comprehensive concept of violence, a concept of suffering uniting humans and animals, and a specific relationship to nature and life. The thesis of this paper is that the greater concern for animals that has developed in western societies, particularly in the last few decades, is fundamentally related to the perception of a common fate that humans and animals share, especially in the face of the threat of an ecological or nuclear catastrophe and the awareness of the competitiveness in human relationships that now prevails the world over. Two literary works and a social psychology study are referred to in order to illustrate this thesis. The perception of a common fate is considered an integral part of identification with others, either humans or animals, of empathy with them, and of an attitude of respect toward nature in general.     

The commercial and agricultural applications of animal transgenesis

The potential for commercial application of transgenic technologies in domestic animals is discussed in relation to the areas where a significant impact on agriculture might be expected. These are the endocrine system, novel biochemical pathways, structural proteins of milk and of textile fibers, and the immune system. Manipulation of the endocrine system has been investigated for some years and it is clear that very accurate control is needed over gene expression if this approach is to prove commercially useful. The area most advanced in commercial application is the production of high-value pharmaceutical proteins in the mammary glands of domestic animals. Other applications that are discussed remain to be proven in larger animals despite being demonstrated laboratory test animals. These include a functional cysteine biosynthetic pathway and a functional glyoxylate cycle transferred from bacteria to mice, and alterations to the proteins of hair that change the physical properties of the resultant fibers. Research is also actively directed toward novel approaches for providing domestic animals with resistance to insects.     

EVOLUTION DE L''INCORPORATION IN VIVO DE L''ACIDE [14C]OROTIQUE DANS L''ARN ET L''ADN DU CERVELET DE JEUNES RATS HYPO- ET HYPERTHYROIDIENS: EFFETS COMPARATIFS DE L''HYPO- ET L''HYPERTHYROIDIE SUR LES MULTIPLICATIONS CELLULAIRES

The change in the body and cerebellar weights, together with the quantity of RNA, DNA and proteins in the cerebellum were studied for the first 10 days and on the 12th, 14th, and 17th days of postnatal life in normal, hypo- and hyperthyroid rats. In the normal animals: (1) The average cellular protein content decreases from the first to the second day, increases to a maximum at 4 days, then decreases. (2) The specific radioactivity of the RNA, 14 h after an intravenous injection of [6-¹⁴C]orotic acid, varies distinctly from birth to 9 days and reaches two maxima at 4 and 6 days. After 9 days it decreases markedly. (3) Mitotic activity (number of replicating cells) increases, reaches a maximum at 9 days, then decreases. (4) The specific radioactivity of the DNA (used as a measure of the percentage of the cellular population in division) reaches a maximum at 6 days. (5) Mitotic efficiency (number of replicating cells in mitotic activity) decreases from 2 to 7 days, and subsequently increases. In the hypothyroid animals: (1) The average cellular protein content increases from the first to the second day and then decreases. (2) The specific radioactivity of the RNA, always significantly higher than that of normal animals, varies from birth to 9 days, reaches two maxima at 4 and 6 days, then decreases after 9 days. (3) Mitotic activity, always significantly lower than that of normal animals, increases from birth, reaches a maximum at 9 days, then decreases. (4) The specific radioactivity of the DNA reaches a maximum at 6 days and the mitotic efficiency a minimum at 7 days. Neither are significantly different from that of normal animals. In the hyperthyroid animals: (1) The average cellular protein content, is maximal at 2 days, then decreases. (2) The specific radioactivity of the RNA, always significantly lower from that of normal animals, decreases from birth. (3) Mitotic activity is similar to that of normal animals, increases from birth up to 6 days, then decreases. (4) The specific radioactivity of the DNA increases from birth up to 5 days, then decreases. It is significantly lower than that of normal animals. (5) Mitotic efficiency is significantly higher than that of normal animals. In the different groups, the maximum of the average cell size, always precedes the maximum of the cellular division. In the hypothyroid animals, the rate of cell death is higher than that of normal animals, and the average cell size is higher during the first fourteen days. In the hyperthyroid animals, the rate of cell death is lower than that of normal animals, and the average cell size is higher at 14 and 17 days.     

Photic and nonphotic inputs to the diurnal circadian clock

Diurnal animals occupy a different temporal niche from nocturnal animals and are consequently exposed to different amounts of light as well as different dangers. Accordingly, some variation exists in the way that diurnal animals synchronize their internal circadian clock to match the external 24-hour daily cycle. First, though the brain mechanisms underlying photic entrainment are very similar among species with different daily activity patterns, there is evidence that diurnal animals are less sensitive to photic stimuli compared to nocturnal animals. Second, stimuli other than light that synchronize rhythms (i.e. nonphotic stimuli) can also entrain and phase shift daily rhythms. Some of the rules that govern nonphotic entrainment in nocturnal animals as well as the brain mechanisms that control nonphotic influences on rhythms do not appear to apply to diurnal animals, however. Some evidence supports the idea that arousal or activity plays an important role in entraining rhythms in diurnal animals, either during the light (active) or dark (inactive) phases, though no consistent pattern is seen. GABAergic stimulation induces phase shifts during the subjective day in both diurnal and nocturnal animals. In diurnal Arvicanthis niloticus (Nile grass rats), SCN GABA_A receptor activation at this time results in phase delays while in nocturnal animals phase advances are induced. It appears that the effect of GABA at this circadian phase results from the inhibition of period gene expression in both diurnal and nocturnal animals. Nonetheless, the resulting phase shifts are in opposite directions. It is not known what stimuli or behaviours ultimately induce changes in GABA activity in the SCN that result in alterations of circadian phase in diurnal grass rats. Taken together, studies such as these suggest that it may be problematic to apply the principles governing nocturnal nonphotic entrainment and its underlying mechanisms to diurnal species including humans.     

Vulnerable Subjects? The Case of Nonhuman Animals in Experimentation

The concept of vulnerability is deployed in bioethics to, amongst other things, identify and remedy harms to participants in research, yet although nonhuman animals in experimentation seem intuitively to be vulnerable, this concept and its attendant protections are rarely applied to research animals. I want to argue, however, that this concept is applicable to nonhuman animals and that a new taxonomy of vulnerability developed in the context of human bioethics can be applied to research animals. This taxonomy does useful explanatory work, helping to pinpoint the limitations of the 3Rs/welfare approach currently adopted in the context of animal experimentation. On this account, the 3Rs/welfare approach fails to deliver for nonhuman animals in experimentation because it effectively addresses only one element of their vulnerability (inherent) and paradoxically through the institution of Animal Ethics Committees intended to protect experimental animals in fact generates new vulnerabilities that exacerbate their already precarious situation.     

Age-dependent effects of chronic stress on brain plasticity and depressive behavior

Exposure to chronic mild stress (CMS) is known to induce anhedonia in adult animals, and is associated with induction of depression in humans. However, the behavioral effects of CMS in young animals have not yet been characterized, and little is known about the long-term neurochemical effects of CMS in either young or adult animals. Here, we found that CMS induces anhedonia in adult but not in young animals, as measured by a set of behavioral paradigms. Furthermore, while CMS decreased neurogenesis and levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus of adult animals, it increased these parameters in young animals. We also found that CMS altered alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionate (AMPA) receptor GluR1 subunit levels in the hippocampus and the nucleus accumbens of adult, but not young animals. Finally, no significant differences were observed between the effects of CMS on circadian corticosterone levels in the different age groups. The substantially different neurochemical effects chronic stress exerts in young and adult animals may explain the behavioral resilience to such stress young animals possess.     

Analgesia in phasic and tonic pain tests in a pharmacological model of autotomy

Self-mutilation or self-injurious behaviour is a well known behavioural disorder in humans. The proposition that this behaviour in animals is a response to chronic pain of peripheral nerve injury has been met with controversy. In the present study a pharmacological model, which produces no sensory or motor loss was used to study how autotomy is related to pain. In a group of rats autotomy was induced by amphetamine in phenoxybenzamine and reserpine treated animals. The pain tests, both phasic and tonic were then performed. The results of this study showed that a total analgesia was produced in both phasic and tonic pain tests, in animals that exhibited autotomy. Injection of naloxone in these animals prevented autotomy. A correlation between autotomy and no pain is suggested in this pharmacological model of autotomy.     

Prospective cognition in animals

The debate about whether or not animals have foresight has focused on whether animals can be shown to have episodic future thinking, that is the ability to travel mentally in time and see themselves in the future. This focus has distracted from consideration of other forms of foresight that animals demonstrate. We propose a framework for examining future-oriented behaviours and then discuss the evidence for future thinking in animals. In the final section we examine some perspectives of future thinking and suggest that there are future-oriented capabilities of animals that do not involve mental time travel but may yet involve future thinking which deserve further investigation.     

Apparent unmasking of [3H]GDP binding in rat brown-fat mitochondria is due to mitochondrial swelling

The presence of and biochemical background for the so-called 'unmasking' phenomenon in rat brown-fat mitochondria was investigated (i.e. the apparent increase in [3H]GDP binding to the 'uncoupling' protein thermogenin, without a concomitant increase in the amount of the protein). It was found that an unmasking could be observed both 1 h after norepinephrine injection and after 1 h cold stress, provided that the rats were preacclimated to 28 degrees C. The unmasking could be observed both when a filtration method and when a centrifugation method for determination of [3H]GDP-binding capacity were used; however, the absolute values were higher with the filtration method. Based on observations of slower cytochrome-c oxidase sedimentation during centrifugation, the possibility that the matrix volume of brown-fat mitochondria isolated from warm-acclimated animals was smaller than that of cold-stressed animals was investigated with 3H2O. The cold stress increased the matrix volume from being nearly non-existent to about 1 microliter/mg. A preswelling procedure in an ionic medium could similarly increase the matrix volume in mitochondria from warm-acclimated animals but was without significant effect in the already swollen mitochondria from cold-stressed animals or from animals adapted to a lower temperature. In mitochondria from warm-acclimated animals, the ionic preswelling procedure was fully able to increase the apparent amount of GDP binding to that observed in mitochondria from cold-stressed animals, but it was practically without effect on GDP binding in mitochondria from cold-stressed animals or from animals acclimated to a lower temperature. It is concluded that the apparent 'unmasking' phenomenon, observed when the tissue is less activated than in normal control situations, is not (as hitherto anticipated) due to a specific change in thermogenin as such, but is a reflection of a general mitochondrial phenomenon.     

Epizootic vesicular disease in captive California sea lions

An epizootic of vesicular disease occurred in a group of semi-domesticated California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) during the months of April and May 1997. Ten castrated mature male sea lions, ages 12 to 19 yr, were housed in three adjacent open-ocean net enclosures in San Diego Bay (California, USA). Four animals (40%) developed oral and extremity vesicles, anorexia, and were reluctant to perform learned behaviors. One animal developed vesicles but maintained a normal appetite and behavior. The remaining animals showed no clinical signs of infection. Virus (designated FADDL 7005) was isolated from four of the five animals that developed vesicles. Serum antibody titers to FADDL 7005, a previously untyped calicivirus, were demonstrated in animals that showed any combination of clinical signs and in two animals that did not show any clinical signs. No virus was isolated from five fecal samples collected from four of the group animals. Clinical signs lasted 4 to 20 days in affected animals. All affected animals recovered from infection. An experimental swine was inoculated with FADDL 7005 and developed vesicular disease, which was transmitted to another experimental swine upon contact. It is proposed that FADDL 7005 is a new San Miguel sea lion virus.     

Size,temperature, and scaphognathite frequency-dependent variations of ventilation volumes in Carcinus maenas (L.)

There is a direct, linear relationship between scaphognathie beat frequency and absolute ventilation volume in Carcinus maenas (L). The absolute ventilation volume is directly proportional to the size of the animals. At all scaphognathie frequencies small animals have a greater relative ventilation volume than large animals. The absolute stroke volume (ml/beat) is greater in large animals than in small animals. The majority of the available evidence suggests that, whilst the force of the scaphognathie stroke may be variable, the amplitude of its excursion remains constant at all beat frequencies.     

Histidine protects against zinc and nickel toxicity in Caenorhabditis elegans

Zinc is an essential trace element involved in a wide range of biological processes and human diseases. Zinc excess is deleterious, and animals require mechanisms to protect against zinc toxicity. To identify genes that modulate zinc tolerance, we performed a forward genetic screen for Caenorhabditis elegans mutants that were resistant to zinc toxicity. Here we demonstrate that mutations of the C. elegans histidine ammonia lyase (haly-1) gene promote zinc tolerance. C. elegans haly-1 encodes a protein that is homologous to vertebrate HAL, an enzyme that converts histidine to urocanic acid. haly-1 mutant animals displayed elevated levels of histidine, indicating that C. elegans HALY-1 protein is an enzyme involved in histidine catabolism. These results suggest the model that elevated histidine chelates zinc and thereby reduces zinc toxicity. Supporting this hypothesis, we demonstrated that dietary histidine promotes zinc tolerance. Nickel is another metal that binds histidine with high affinity. We demonstrated that haly-1 mutant animals are resistant to nickel toxicity and dietary histidine promotes nickel tolerance in wild-type animals. These studies identify a novel role for haly-1 and histidine in zinc metabolism and may be relevant for other animals.