Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

Southern Illinois University

Subject: Humane endpoints for animals used for research or teaching purposes

Purpose: To minimize the pain and/or distress animals used for research or teaching may experience.

Policy:

Legal regulations and moral guidelines require that animal pain, distress, discomfort and suffering be minimized in any experiment. Conditions or procedures that cause more than momentary or slight pain/distress should be performed with appropriate sedation, analgesia, or anesthesia. Discomfort to animals must be limited to that which is unavoidable for the conduct of scientifically valuable research, and unrelieved pain and/or distress can continue only for the duration necessary to accomplish the scientific objectives.

Research procedures involving unrelieved pain or distress may receive consideration for approval by providing appropriate scientific justification on the Animal Use Protocol form. The justification must describe how administration of pain relieving agents would interfere with the scientific objectives of the study and must also be supported by scientific literature. Humane endpoints other than death must always be considered and should be used whenever the research objective can be attained with non-lethal endpoints. Ideally, humane endpoints are sought that can be used to end studies before the onset of pain and/or distress. Research proposals utilizing animal death as an experimental endpoint may also receive consideration for approval by providing appropriate scientific justification on the Animal Use Protocol form. The justification should describe why an alternative endpoint to death would not be appropriate for the scientific objectives of the study, the number of animals involved, and how it was determined the proposed number of animals is the minimum possible to achieve the goals of the study.

Humane endpoints are defined as the criteria used to end experimental studies earlier in order to avoid or terminate unrelieved pain and/or distress, while ensuring that study objectives will still be met even though the study is ended at an earlier point. Investigators are expected to make a good faith effort to justify their endpoints, or agree to treat or euthanize animals found moribund or with irreversible, painful or distressful conditions. If pain or distress is anticipated, a detailed plan for when and how these conditions will be alleviated should be provided on the Animal Care and Use Protocol form. The plan should include detailed written criteria for the humane endpoints that will be used to determine when animals can be removed from the study, treated, or euthanized. There should be clear directions concerning who can make the decision to euthanize or treat animals, including procedures to follow if a situation arises on weekends, holidays, or in the absence of the principal investigator. Animals should be observed frequently enough to detect signs of impending death so they can be euthanized in a timely manner. Animals not likely to survive until the next scheduled observation should normally be euthanized. In situations where animals are often found dead, closer and more frequent observation should be considered to reduce spontaneous deaths. Investigators are encouraged to euthanize animals that have irreversible, painful or distressful clinical conditions if experimental validity will not be compromised. Animals that would otherwise suffer severe or chronic pain and distress that cannot be relieved should be painlessly killed at the end of the procedure, or, if appropriate, during the procedure.

Clinical signs/symptoms for which euthanasia is warranted if animals are unable to be treated effectively.

  1. paralysis, paresis or other impaired ambulation impeding normal activities (e.g. eating, drinking, urination, defecation)
  2. extreme weakness (e.g. inability to remain upright, lack of righting reflex)
  3. skin ulcerations that are:

·  greater than ~10% of the body surface area

·  full skin thickness with exposure of underlying tissue

  1. neoplasms that:

·  exceed > 10% of normal body weight

·  are ulcerated, necrotic or infected

·  impede normal activities (e.g. ambulation, eating, drinking, breathing, urination, defecation)

  1. decrease of 4-6oC in body temperature in rodents
  2. prolonged recumbency or inability to ambulate
  3. weight loss of > 20% of normal body weight
  4. CNS signs (e.g. circling, convulsions)
  5. pain which cannot be alleviated despite administration of analgesics
  6. inability to eat, drink, urinate or defecate normally
  7. labored breathing (dyspnea)
  8. prolapsed penis or rectum
  9. bilateral blindness
  10. limb or spinal fractures
  11. septicemia

Date of IACUC Approval: May 28, 2003