Research Alternatives to vivisection

Alternatives Used in the US

• I-MAb Gas Permeable Tissue Culture Bags are used to produce monoclonal antibodies for research diagnostic and clinical purposes. Developed by the ARDF, could replace up to one million mice a year.

• National Library of Medicine Visible Human Project utilized actual human cadaver cross-sections, CAT scans, and computer programs to develop new surgical techniques and research perspective.

• Organotypic cultures of human brain slices are used to study neurobiochemistry, neurophysiology, and drug efficacy.

• Short, direct non-invasive magnetic pulses allow precise stimulation of brain cells/regions in human volunteers for neurosciences.

• Use of mathematical models and computer simulations in physiology, cardiovascular, pharmacology, and neurosciences (e.g., neural networks).

• Use of non-invasive functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) to study neuroanatomy and neurophysiology in human patients and volunteers.

• Use of three-dimensional human cell cultures to study drug penetration and characteristics of the blood-brain barrier.

• Use of echocardiography, color-coded dopler imaging and abdominal sonography as non-invasive methods for cardiovascular research in human patients and volunteers.

• Use of normal and pathological human cell and tissue cultures to identify disease processes and treatments.

• Use of three-dimensional bioengineered human skin cultures to study effects of burns and ultraviolet exposure. [ Lire plus… ]