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Animals used in biomedical research may experience pain or distress as part of the experimental protocol. By implementing humane endpoints, pain or distress can be prevented or alleviated whilst still meeting scientific aims and objectives. We invited experts from Arizona State University (Samantha Sullivan) and Loma Linda University (Obed Rutebuka), along with USDA and OLAW representatives (Louis DiVincenti and Axel Wolff), to respond to a scenario about the importance of defining humane endpoints in research protocols.
The study reveals that raising mice at 22 °C boosts gut transit speed by two times compared to 30 °C, primarily due to stress signals from the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and an increase of corticotropin-releasing hormone.
Omne vivum ex ovo — Every living thing comes from an egg. However, keeping eggs healthy and competent to form viable embryos is not an easy task for every organism. A recent paper describes an elegant mechanism utilised by mammalian eggs to manage possibly toxic protein aggregates.
This Review discusses the use of pig models in animal research for cardiovascular diseases, highlighting their advantages over rodent models and suggesting the need for standardized models to enhance clinical translation and target potential treatments.