Humpenöder Melanie, Corte Giuliano M, Pfützner Marcel, Wiegard Mechthild, Merle Roswitha, Hohlbaum Katharina, Erickson Nancy A, Plendl Johanna, Thöne-Reineke Christa
Institute of Animal Welfare, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Behavior and Laboratory Animal Science, Freie Universität Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany.
Institute of Veterinary Anatomy, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
Animals (Basel). 2021 Dec 5;11(12):3462. doi: 10.3390/ani11123462.
In laboratory animal science (LAS) education and training, five simulators are available for exercises on handling and routine procedures on the rat, which is-beside mice-the most commonly used species in LAS. Since these simulators may have high potential in protecting laboratory rats, the aim of this study is to investigate the simulators' impact on the 3R (replace, reduce, refine) principle in LAS education and training. Therefore, the simulators were evaluated by 332 course participants in 27 different LAS courses via a practical simulator training workshop and a paper-based two-part questionnaire-both integrated in the official LAS course schedule. The results showed a high positive resonance for simulator training and it was considered especially useful for the inexperienced. However, the current simulators may not completely replace exercises on live animals and improvements regarding more realistic simulators are demanded. In accordance with literature data on simulator-use also in other fields of education, more research on simulators and new developments are needed, particularly with the aim for a broad implementation in LAS education and training benefiting all 3Rs.
在实验动物科学（LAS）教育与培训中，有五种模拟器可用于大鼠处理和常规操作练习，大鼠是LAS中除小鼠外最常用的物种。由于这些模拟器在保护实验大鼠方面可能具有很大潜力，本研究旨在调查模拟器对LAS教育与培训中3R（替代、减少、优化）原则的影响。因此，通过一个实际的模拟器培训工作坊和一份纸质两部分问卷，对27个不同LAS课程中的332名课程参与者进行了模拟器评估，这两者均纳入了官方LAS课程安排。结果显示，模拟器培训得到了高度积极的反响，且被认为对缺乏经验者特别有用。然而，当前的模拟器可能无法完全取代对活体动物的练习，需要对更逼真的模拟器进行改进。根据其他教育领域中模拟器使用的文献数据，需要对模拟器进行更多研究和新的开发，特别是旨在在LAS教育与培训中广泛实施，使所有3R原则都受益。
