Ch. 6— Alternatives to Animal Use in Research • 121 
Tissue culture is being successfully employed 
in many disciplines of biomedical research. In neu- 
rology, the use of embryonic rat mesencephalon 
tissues to examine the destruction of dopamine 
neurons has replaced the use of primates (154). 
Prior to this development, the monkey had served 
as the best model for the study of degenerative 
effects observed in humans. Adult rats, cats, and 
guinea pigs have been shown to be resistant to 
the destruction of dopamine neurons. Metabolic 
studies of an experimental antiarthritis agent have 
made use of the inside of hamster and rat intesti- 
nal walls (202). Physiological experiments exam- 
ined the dynamics of secretion with mouse 
epididymis (70). 
Cell Culture 
Although cell culture is not a new technique, 
developments and applications during the past dec- 
ade have come so rapidly as to create whole new 
research institutions and industries. Cell culture 
today touches every discipline of biomedical re- 
search, as well as clinical practice. The following 
illustrates the pervasiveness of this approach in 
biomedical research: 
• Eggs and sperm from many species have been 
used by endocrinologists, physiologists, and 
biochemists to study the mechanisms involved 
in fertilization and early development (58,157). 
• A hamster ovary cell line and its mutants are 
being used to explore the biochemistry of a 
membrane-associated protein essential to all 
animal cell function (175). 
• In oncology, human interferon derived from 
bacterial recombinant DNA induces a trans- 
formation of human white blood cells similar 
to that observed during infection, cancer, and 
rheumatoid arthritis. This change in white 
blood cells provides clues to the pathology of 
cancer (216). 
• Steroid metabolism is being studied using cul- 
tured rat epididymal cells (29). 
• A monkey kidney cell line was employed to 
demonstrate the metabolic effects of several 
general anesthetics (26). 
• Geneticists are developing an in vitro method 
of studying heme gene expression (54). 
• Surgical research into the use of cultured hu- 
man epithelium for permanent coverage of 
large burn wounds has moved from the lab- 
oratory into clinical trials (76). 
In immunology, studies on antibody^synthesis 
and response have been bolstered by the Nobel- 
prize-winning elucidation of monoclonal antibod- 
ies. In its initial steps, this technique consumes large 
numbers of animals, as the varying immune re- 
sponses of many mice are probed. Then, cloned 
cells from the spleen of one mouse can be exploited 
to produce valuable, highly specific antibodies. An- 
tibodies so produced can obviate the need for many 
rabbits, sheep, and even humans in the large-scale 
production of antibodies. Perhaps of even greater 
importance for research is the high quality of the 
antibody produced by monoclonal cells. A compre- 
hensive listing of current research being conducted 
with monoclonal antibodies from cloned cells is 
beyond the scope of this assessment. Some of the 
diagnostic potentials of monoclonal antibodies be- 
ing explored in biomedical research are: 
• the characterization of malignant and benign 
tumors; 
• the identification of autoimmune antibodies 
in rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythe- 
matosus, myasthenia gravis, and other auto- 
immune diseases; 
• the identification and quantification of serum 
proteins, hormones, and their cell-surface 
receptors; 
• the monitoring of therapeutic drugs and iden- 
tification of novel therapeutic drugs; 
• the rapid diagnosis of bacterial, viral, fungal, 
and parasitic diseases; 
• the monitoring and identification of lymphoid 
and hematopoietic cells in disease states; and 
• pregnancy testing. 
Biologists have developed techniques for the con- 
trolled disruption of cells that can leave many or- 
ganelles intact or allow the harvesting of selected 
intracellular membranes. These fractions have 
proved to be invaluable in the search for informa- 
tion at the molecular level. For example, micro- 
somal membrane fractions from rat and human 
liver have been used in comparative anesthesia 
research (27). In endocrinology, human placental 
and ovarian microsomes were used to demonstrate 
inhibition of steroid hormone synthesis by plant 
chemicals (112). In dentistry, proteins purified 
from unerupted fetal buds were shown to be in- 
38-750 o 
86 
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