Schapiro Steven J, Neal Webb Sarah J, Mulholland Michele M, Lambeth Susan P
Department of Comparative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, Texas, USA.
Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
ILAR J. 2021 Sep 24;60(3):389-396. doi: 10.1093/ilar/ilaa023.
Behavioral management programs aim to enhance the welfare of animal subjects that participate in research, thereby enhancing our ability to conduct ethical research projects. Socialization strategies, environmental enrichment techniques, opportunities for subjects to voluntarily participate in research procedures, and the provision of Functionally Appropriate Captive Environments are 4 major components of most behavioral management programs. The appropriate implementation of behavioral management programs should provide animals with opportunities to engage in species-typical activity patterns, contributing to valid and reliable animal models that require the smallest number of subjects to achieve meaningful results. The role that socialization strategies, environmental enrichment techniques, and positive reinforcement training can play in maintaining and enhancing welfare through the stimulation of species-typical behavior and the prevention of abnormal behavior is discussed. The value of empirically assessing the effects of behavioral management techniques is emphasized. Additionally, the necessity of adjusting the relative prioritization of needs related to the convenience of human caregivers and the animals themselves is addressed. For the purposes of this discussion, research projects are considered to be ethical if they (1) involve animals with high welfare, (2) provide data that are reliable and valid, (3) involve appropriate numbers of subjects, and (4) involve animals that are appropriate models to test meaningful hypotheses.
行为管理计划旨在提高参与研究的动物受试者的福利，从而增强我们开展符合伦理的研究项目的能力。社交化策略、环境丰富化技术、受试者自愿参与研究程序的机会以及提供功能适宜的圈养环境是大多数行为管理计划的四个主要组成部分。行为管理计划的恰当实施应为动物提供参与物种典型活动模式的机会，有助于建立有效且可靠的动物模型，这类模型所需的受试者数量最少就能取得有意义的结果。本文讨论了社交化策略、环境丰富化技术和正向强化训练在通过激发物种典型行为和预防异常行为来维持和提高福利方面所能发挥的作用。强调了对行为管理技术的效果进行实证评估的价值。此外，还探讨了调整与人类照料者便利性和动物自身需求相关的相对优先次序的必要性。出于本次讨论的目的，如果研究项目（1）涉及福利良好的动物，（2）提供可靠且有效的数据，（3）涉及适当数量的受试者，以及（4）涉及适合测试有意义假设的动物模型，那么这些研究项目就被认为是符合伦理的。
