Everitt J I, Berridge B R
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. GlaxoSmithKline, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
ILAR J. 2017 Jul 1;58(1):129-134. doi: 10.1093/ilar/ilx003.
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) have a mandated role under the Animal Welfare Act and under Public Health Service Policy to assure the ethical and humane use of research animals in experiments conducted in the United States. The IACUC by virtue of its mandated functions is well positioned to help nurture an institutional culture of optimized animal use since this Committee is often responsible in large part for the culture of animal use that evolves within an institution. In addition to fostering a culture of humane care for research animals and a culture of working with the concepts of the 3Rs (refinement, reduction, replacement), the IACUC can help foster a culture of optimized animal use that encourages high quality reproducible studies that contribute to translational success. In part this is achieved when the IACUC is successful in encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration early and often within the animal use community it serves. Unfortunately in some instances the institutional research community may envisage the IACUC as a bureaucratic burden, regulatory necessity, and compliance tool more than a group that enhances the methodology and quality of animal experiments. A well-functioning IACUC should strive to nurture an institutional culture that places value in enhancing the scientific quality of research to help assure the reproducibility of animal studies and translational success of animal models. This is integral to both high quality science as well as excellence in the supporting animal care and use.
根据《动物福利法》和公共卫生服务政策，机构动物护理与使用委员会（IACUC）肩负着一项法定职责，即确保在美国进行的实验中以符合伦理和人道的方式使用实验动物。鉴于其法定职能，IACUC处于有利地位，能够助力培育一种优化动物使用的机构文化，因为该委员会在很大程度上往往要对机构内部逐渐形成的动物使用文化负责。除了培育一种对实验动物进行人道护理的文化以及一种践行3R原则（优化、减少、替代）理念的文化之外，IACUC还能够帮助培育一种优化动物使用的文化，这种文化鼓励开展有助于转化成功的高质量可重复研究。当IACUC成功地尽早并经常在其服务的动物使用群体中鼓励跨学科合作时，在一定程度上就能实现这一目标。不幸的是，在某些情况下，机构研究群体可能更多地将IACUC视为一种官僚负担、监管必需品和合规工具，而不是一个能够提升动物实验方法和质量的群体。一个运作良好的IACUC应努力培育一种机构文化，这种文化重视提高研究的科学质量，以帮助确保动物研究的可重复性以及动物模型的转化成功。这对于高质量科学以及卓越的动物护理与使用支持工作而言都是不可或缺的。
