Badyal Dinesh K, Desai Chetna
Department of Pharmacology, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, India.
Department of Pharmacology, BJ Medical College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
Indian J Pharmacol. 2014 May-Jun;46(3):257-65. doi: 10.4103/0253-7613.132153.
The use of animals in research and education dates back to the period when humans started to look for ways to prevent and cure ailments. Most of present day's drug discoveries were possible because of the use of animals in research. The dilemma to continue animal experiments in education and research continues with varied and confusing guidelines. However, the animal use and their handling vary in each laboratory and educational institution. It has been reported that the animals are being subjected to painful procedures in education and training unnecessarily. The extensive use of animals in toxicity studies and testing dermatological preparations has raised concerns about the ways animals are sacrificed for these "irrelevant experiments". On the other side of the coin are scientists who advocate the relevant and judicious use of animals in research so that new discoveries can continue. In this review, we discuss the evolution of the use of animals in education and research and how these have been affected in recent times owing to concerns from animal lovers and government regulations. A number of computer simulation and other models have been recommended for use as alternatives to use of animals for pharmacology education. In this review we also discuss some of these alternatives.
在研究和教育中使用动物的历史可以追溯到人类开始寻找预防和治疗疾病方法的时期。当今大多数药物的发现都得益于在研究中使用动物。由于教育和研究中动物实验指导方针各不相同且令人困惑，是否继续进行动物实验的困境依然存在。然而，每个实验室和教育机构对动物的使用和处理方式都有所不同。据报道，在教育和培训中，动物正不必要地遭受痛苦的程序。在毒性研究和皮肤病制剂测试中大量使用动物引发了人们对为这些“无关实验”牺牲动物方式的担忧。另一方面，也有科学家主张在研究中合理且明智地使用动物，以便新的发现能够继续。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了在教育和研究中使用动物的演变过程，以及由于动物爱好者的关注和政府法规，近年来这一情况受到了怎样的影响。有人推荐了一些计算机模拟和其他模型作为药理学教育中使用动物的替代方法。在这篇综述中，我们还将讨论其中的一些替代方法。
