engleski

Laboratory animals PET imaging trough the eyes of a 3R's principle

Positron emission tomography (PET) has evolved rapidly through the last decade and it now enables excellent imaging possibilities in wide range of preclinical studies. In 1959, Russel and Burch have proposed the 3R's concept (replacement, refinement and reduction) as a leading ethical principle in conducting animal experiments. At first not that important, but as global awareness of animal welfare grows, implementing of 3R's principle in animal experiments becomes inevitable. PET represents the cutting-egde technology in medical imaging and when applied in experiments including laboratory animals it meets the 3R's principle in many ways. In PET imaging, every animal can be scanned „before“ as a control animal, and „after“ as a experimental animal. Basically, it means that every animal can be a control for itself. This is crucial for reduction because in this case it is not necessary to have two groups of animals. The use of inhalation anesthesia, which also provides analgesia, becomes a standard protocol in PET imaging. That protocol enhances welfare of animals and affects refinement in a positive way. After experiment, PET images remain saved and they can be analized retrospectively. This retrospective studies can bring out a whole new experiment with new objectives that are not connected with the original experiment. For results obtained in that manner it can be said that no animals were used and count it as the replacement method. The importance of implementing the 3R's principle lies not just in improvement of the animal welfare but also in obtaining accurate results.

positron emission tomography ; laboratory animals welfare ; 3R's principle

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