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Introduction

Animal welfare regulations require that principal investigators who are planning research activities consider alternatives to procedures that may cause more than momentary or slight pain or distress to research animals. The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (The Guide) also states that protocols address:

• Appropriate sedation, analgesia, and anesthesia
• Criteria for timely intervention, removal of animals from study, or euthanasia if painful or stressful outcomes are anticipated; and
• Details of post-procedural care.

  A painful procedure is defined as any procedure that would reasonably be expected to cause more than slight or momentary pain and/or distress in a human being to which that procedure is applied.

  Investigators should use techniques that minimize distress in animals because stress can cause metabolic, physiologic and behavioral changes that can impact negatively on both the animal's well-being and the research results.

   

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