Chapter 6 
Alternatives to Animal Use in Research 
Alternatives to animal use in biomedical and be- 
havioral research fall into four broad categories: 
• continued, but modified, animal use, in- 
cluding a reduction in the number of animals 
used, improved experimental design and sta- 
tistical analyses of results, substitution of cold- 
blooded for warm-blooded vertebrates, substi- 
tution of laboratory mammals for domestic 
or companion mammals, and reduction of pain 
or experimental insult; 
• use of living systems, including in vitro cul- 
tures (of cells, tissues, and organs; see table 
6-1), embryos, invertebrates, micro-organ- 
isms, and plants; 
• use of nonliving systems, such as chemical 
or physical systems; and 
• computer simulation. 
In this chapter, various disciplines within bio- 
medical and behavioral research are surveyed in 
order to focus attention on the most promising 
areas for development of alternatives to animal 
methods. Areas not amenable to the implementa- 
tion of such alternatives are also identified. 
As noted in chapter 5, distinctions within and 
among the varied disciplines of biomedical and be- 
havioral research are artificial in one sense: Bound- 
aries among disciplines are often blurred, and 
broad areas of overlap exist. Yet the examination 
of discrete areas of research highlights the great 
variability among disciplines in the potential for 
using alternatives to animals. 
Using alternative methods in research holds sev- 
eral advantages from scientific, economic, and hu- 
mane perspectives, including: 
• reduction in the number of animals used; 
• reduction in animal pain, suffering, and ex- 
perimental insult; 
• reduction in investigator-induced, artifactual 
physiological phenomena; 
• savings in time, with the benefit of obtaining 
results more quickly; 
• the ability to perform replicative protocols on 
a routine basis; 
• reduction in the cost of research; 
• a greater flexibility to alter conditions and vari- 
ables of the experimental protocol; 
• reduction of error stemming from inter- 
individual variability; and 
• the intrinsic potential of in vitro techniques 
to study cellular and molecular mechanisms. 
At the same time, these methods are fraught with 
inherent disadvantages, including: 
• reduced ability to study organismal growth 
processes; 
• reduced ability to study cells, tissues, and or- 
gan systems acting in concert; 
• reduced ability to study integrated biochem- 
ical and metabolic pathways; 
Table 6-1.— Research Methods Involving Living Components 
Isolated perfused 
organs using: 
Isolated tissue or 
tissue sample using: 
Isolated single 
cell using: 
Subcellular 
constituents using: 
liver 
striated muscle 
fat cells 
nuclei 
muscle 
iris 
liver cells 
mitochondria 
heart 
trachea 
neurons 
microsomes 
lung 
bronchi 
glial cells 
lysosomes 
adrenal gland 
lung 
striated muscle cells 
synaptosomes 
pituitary gland 
uterus 
smooth muscle cells 
cell membranes 
intestine 
intestine 
red blood cells 
muscle actin/myosin 
testis 
seminal vesicle 
leukocytes 
skin 
vas deferens 
platelets 
spleen 
kidney 
bladder 
spleen 
salivary gland 
fat pads 
liver slice 
mast cells 
SOURCE: Adapted from W. Paton, Man and Mouse: Animals in Medical Research (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984) 
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