Animal testing and alternatives

Multi-Lab Testing of Early Preclinical Discoveries Identifies Promising Treatments

The paper evaluates multi-laboratory studies to identify promising treatments by assessing effect sizes and experimental rigor across different medical fields.

A Quarter-Power Law for Translating Human Development intoEquivalent Mouse and Rat Ages

The paper develops a quarter-power law to translate human developmental age into equivalent mouse and rat ages, finding it outperforms other models in cross-validation.

Open Dataset of Developmental Timelines for Corresponding Milestones in Mice, Rats, and Humans

The paper presents an open dataset of developmental milestones for mice, rats, and humans, showing non-linear scaling between species and introducing a quarter-power transformation to improve cross-species comparability.

Inadequate antibody validation places substantial numbers of animal and human tissue samples at risk of waste

Of 760 papers using 35 antibodies that failed knockout-controlled testing in every application, 15.8% showed validation; the other 640 used at least 8,064 animal and 4,424 human tissue samples.

The Non-Human Primate Sample Size Calculator: a design tool for longitudinal research projects

The paper develops a web-based tool to estimate sample sizes for non-human primate longitudinal studies using natural healthspan data.

A foundational in vivo platform for predicting human health outcomes

This paper introduces a platform using rodent behavior to predict human health outcomes, achieving faster and more accurate predictions than traditional methods.

Large-Scale Assessment of Animal-to-Human Drug Translation Using Natural Language Processing

This paper uses NLP to analyze 500,000 animal drug studies and links them to clinical data, finding that only 3.1% reach regulatory approval and that species diversity and blinding improve translation success.

Report on pre-validation of an animal-free alternative method (NAM) for regulatory safety testing: InfiniteLungDT, an in-vitro-learned digital twin for the prediction of material-triggered chronic neutrophilic lung inflammation

The paper pre-validates an animal-free method, InfiniteLungDT, which predicts chronic neutrophilic lung inflammation using in vitro data, achieving high accuracy in LOAEL determination.

Rat and rabbit whole embryo culture as a new approach method for unlabeled therapeutic antisense oligonucleotide hazard identification with no requirement for microinjection or assisted transfection

This paper shows that rat and rabbit whole embryo culture can identify developmental hazards of antisense oligonucleotides without microinjection or transfection, using mipomersen as a test case.

A spoonful of what helps the medicine go down? Improving the reliability of voluntary ingestion for oral dosing in rats and mice

This study tests masking agents to improve the reliability of voluntary oral dosing in rats and mice by reducing aversion to bitter-tasting compounds.

Rehoming laboratory rats: Exploring perceptions of rehomers, animal technicians and biomedical researchers

This study explores perceptions of rehoming laboratory rats among rehomers, animal technicians, and researchers, finding broad support but also concerns about animal welfare and institutional transparency.

A Large-Scale Concordance Study of Toxicity Findings Across Preclinical Species and Humans for Small Molecules and Biologics in Drug Development

This study identifies concordant toxicity findings across preclinical species and humans for drugs, using a large dataset and novel methods to improve translational safety science.

A universal resazurin-based viability assay for prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells in 2D and 3D cultures

This paper introduces a universal resazurin-based viability assay for prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells in 2D and 3D cultures, offering real-time, non-destructive monitoring with high sensitivity and cost-effectiveness.

Robust scoring system to evaluate animal well-being in murine orthotopic breast cancer and ovarian cancer models

This paper develops a quantitative health scoring system for murine orthotopic breast and ovarian cancer models to improve humane endpoint management.

Developing a Novel In Vitro Toxicity Assay for Predicting Inhalation Toxicity in Rats

This paper develops and validates an optimized A549-NRU assay for predicting acute inhalation toxicity in rats, showing strong correlation with in vivo LC50 values.

Researchers' perspectives on preregistration in animal research

This study surveys Swiss animal researchers' attitudes and experiences with preregistration, finding low adoption due to perceived barriers and negative attitudes.

Comparative study of pre- and post-mortem perfusion of fixative for the quality of neuronal tissue preparation

This study compares pre- and post-mortem perfusion methods for tissue fixation, finding differences in axonal structures, mitochondrial morphology, and immunostaining quality.

Would you agree if N is three? On statistical inference for small N.

The paper evaluates a framework for statistical inference with small sample sizes (N=3) and shows its error rate depends on outcome typicality, suggesting limited utility for population inference.

Multi-Week Digital Home Cage Monitoring Reduces Noise and Enhances Reproducibility

This study shows that multi-week digital home cage monitoring in rodents improves reproducibility by reducing noise and enhancing replication of genotype differences in activity.

Development of a network formation assay for developmental neurotoxicity hazard screening using 3D human iPSC derived BrainSpheres

The paper develops a 3D human iPSC-derived BrainSphere model on hdMEAs to screen for developmental neurotoxicity by measuring neural network activity and disruption from chemical exposures.

On the utilisation and characterisation of external biotransformation systems in in vitro toxicology: a critical review of the scientific literature with guidance recommendations

This paper reviews biotransformation systems in in vitro toxicology, identifies methodological issues, and provides guidance to improve their reliability and integration into regulatory assessments.

Reducing Foetal Bovine Serum Culture Conditions does not affect GPCR Signalling

This study shows that reducing foetal bovine serum from 10% to 5% in culture conditions does not significantly affect cell growth or GPCR signalling.

Animal product-free formation and cultivation of 3D primary hepatocyte spheroids

This paper develops and evaluates an animal product-free culture medium for 3D primary human hepatocyte spheroids, showing equal or superior viability and function compared to fetal bovine serum.

Mouse precision-cut liver and kidney slices: an optimized ex vivo model for acute toxicity testing

This paper develops an optimized ex vivo model using mouse precision-cut liver and kidney slices for acute toxicity testing, showing comparable sensitivity and reproducibility to in vivo models.

Reporting and justification of sample size in translational chronic variable stress procedures: A systematic review

This study reviews CVS procedures and finds that only one of 385 studies used a biologically meaningful effect size to determine sample size, suggesting poor adherence to the Reduction principle of the Three Rs.

High-Throughput Assay for Predicting Diarrhea Risk Using a 2D Human Intestinal Stem Cell-Derived Model

This paper develops a high-throughput assay using human intestinal stem cells to predict diarrhea risk from chemotherapeutics with high accuracy.

Predominance of animal-based expertise may bias NIH neuroscience grant review: A pilot study with implications for non-animal methodologies

This study investigates if a bias toward animal-based methods exists in NIH neuroscience grant reviews, finding a correlation between reviewer expertise and funding of animal-based versus non-animal research.

A scientific case for revisiting the embryonic chicken model in biomedical research

The paper examines why chicken embryos are underutilized as a replacement model in biomedical research despite their potential, using UK grant data from 2017-2023.

Assessment of developmental neurotoxicology-associated alterations in neuronal architecture and function using Caenorhabditis elegans

This study evaluates the effects of developmental neurotoxicants on neuronal architecture and function in C. elegans, identifying morphological and behavioral changes consistent with mammalian DNT literature.

Causal, Predictive or Observational? Different Understandings of Key Event Relationships for Adverse Outcome Pathways and Their Implications on Practice

This study examines the use of causal, observational, and predictive terms in Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) and highlights discrepancies between terminology and practice in inferring causality.