The continued need for animals to advance brain research

Judith R Homberg¹, Roger A H Adan², Natalia Alenina³, Antonis Asiminas⁴, Michael Bader³, Tom Beckers⁵, Denovan P Begg⁶, Arjan Blokland⁷, Marilise E Burger⁸, Gertjan van Dijk⁹, Ulrich L M Eisel⁹, Ype Elgersma¹⁰, Bernhard Englitz¹¹, Antonio Fernandez-Ruiz¹², Carlos P Fitzsimons¹³, Anne-Marie van Dam¹⁴, Peter Gass¹⁵, Joanes Grandjean¹⁶, Robbert Havekes⁹, Marloes J A G Henckens¹⁶, Christiane Herden¹⁷, Roelof A Hut⁹, Wendy Jarrett¹⁸, Kate Jeffrey¹⁹, Daniela Jezova²⁰, Andries Kalsbeek²¹, Maarten Kamermans²¹, Martien J Kas⁹, Nael Nadif Kasri¹⁶, Amanda J Kiliaan¹⁶, Sharon M Kolk¹¹, Aniko Korosi¹³, S Mechiel Korte²², Tamas Kozicz²³, Steven A Kushner¹⁰, Kirk Leech²⁴, Klaus-Peter Lesch²⁵, Heidi Lesscher²⁶, Paul J Lucassen¹³, Anita Luthi²⁷, Liya Ma¹¹, Anne S Mallien¹⁵, Peter Meerlo⁹, Jorge F Mejias¹³, Frank J Meye², Anna S Mitchell²⁸, Joram D Mul¹³, Umberto Olcese¹³, Azahara Oliva González¹², Jocelien D A Olivier⁹, Massimo Pasqualetti²⁹, Cyriel M A Pennartz¹³, Piotr Popik³⁰, Jos Prickaerts⁷, Liset M de la Prida³¹, Sidarta Ribeiro³², Benno Roozendaal¹⁶, Janine I Rossato³³, Ali-Akbar Salari³⁴, Regien G Schoemaker⁹, August B Smit³⁵, Louk J M J Vanderschuren²⁶, Tomonori Takeuchi³⁶, Rixt van der Veen¹³, Marten P Smidt¹³, Vladyslav V Vyazovskiy³⁷, Maximilian Wiesmann¹⁶, Corette J Wierenga³⁸, Bella Williams¹⁸, Ingo Willuhn²¹, Markus Wöhr³⁹, Monique Wolvekamp¹¹, Eddy A van der Zee⁹, Lisa Genzel⁴⁰

Affiliations

¹ Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: judith.homberg@radboudumc.nl.
² University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
³ The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XD, UK; Center for Translational Neuromedicine, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵ KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute and Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Leuven, Belgium.
⁶ School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁷ Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
⁸ Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil.
⁹ Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
¹⁰ Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
¹¹ Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
¹² Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
¹³ Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
¹⁴ Amsterdam University Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Amsterdam University Medical Center, Free University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
¹⁵ Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim Faculty, Mannheim, Germany.
¹⁶ Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
¹⁷ Institute of Veterinary Pathology, Gießen, Gießen, Germany; Center of Mind Brain and Behavior (CMBB), Philipps-University of Marburg and Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Marburg, Germany.
¹⁸ Understanding Animal Research, London, UK.
¹⁹ Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, UK.
²⁰ Institute of Experimental Endocrinology, Biomedical Research Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
²¹ Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN), Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Amsterdam University Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
²² Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
²³ Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
²⁴ European Animal Research Association, London, UK.
²⁵ Division of Molecular Psychiatry, Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Laboratory of Psychiatric Neurobiology, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia; Department of Neuropsychology and Psychiatry, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNS), Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
²⁶ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
²⁷ Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
²⁸ University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
²⁹ University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
³⁰ Maj Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków 31-343, Poland.
³¹ Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain.
³² Brain Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
³³ Department of Physiology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
³⁴ Salari Institute of Cognitive and Behavioral Disorders (SICBD), Karaj, Alborz, Iran.
³⁵ Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
³⁶ Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience - DANDRITE, Nordic-EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.
³⁷ Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
³⁸ Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
³⁹ Center of Mind Brain and Behavior (CMBB), Philipps-University of Marburg and Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Marburg, Germany; Philipps-University of Marburg, Faculty of Psychology, Experimental and Biological Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Marburg, Germany; KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute and Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Leuven, Belgium.
⁴⁰ Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: l.genzel@donders.ru.nl.

PMID: 34352213
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.07.015

Free article

The continued need for animals to advance brain research

Judith R Homberg et al. Neuron. 2021.

Free article

. 2021 Aug 4;109(15):2374-2379.

doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.07.015.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: judith.homberg@radboudumc.nl.
² University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
³ The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XD, UK; Center for Translational Neuromedicine, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵ KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute and Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Leuven, Belgium.
⁶ School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁷ Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
⁸ Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil.
⁹ Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
¹⁰ Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
¹¹ Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
¹² Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
¹³ Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
¹⁴ Amsterdam University Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Amsterdam University Medical Center, Free University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
¹⁵ Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim Faculty, Mannheim, Germany.
¹⁶ Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
¹⁷ Institute of Veterinary Pathology, Gießen, Gießen, Germany; Center of Mind Brain and Behavior (CMBB), Philipps-University of Marburg and Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Marburg, Germany.
¹⁸ Understanding Animal Research, London, UK.
¹⁹ Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, UK.
²⁰ Institute of Experimental Endocrinology, Biomedical Research Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
²¹ Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN), Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Amsterdam University Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
²² Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
²³ Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
²⁴ European Animal Research Association, London, UK.
²⁵ Division of Molecular Psychiatry, Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Laboratory of Psychiatric Neurobiology, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia; Department of Neuropsychology and Psychiatry, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNS), Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
²⁶ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
²⁷ Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
²⁸ University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
²⁹ University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
³⁰ Maj Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków 31-343, Poland.
³¹ Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain.
³² Brain Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
³³ Department of Physiology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
³⁴ Salari Institute of Cognitive and Behavioral Disorders (SICBD), Karaj, Alborz, Iran.
³⁵ Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
³⁶ Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience - DANDRITE, Nordic-EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.
³⁷ Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
³⁸ Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
³⁹ Center of Mind Brain and Behavior (CMBB), Philipps-University of Marburg and Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Marburg, Germany; Philipps-University of Marburg, Faculty of Psychology, Experimental and Biological Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Marburg, Germany; KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute and Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Leuven, Belgium.
⁴⁰ Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: l.genzel@donders.ru.nl.

PMID: 34352213
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.07.015

Abstract

Policymakers aim to move toward animal-free alternatives for scientific research and have introduced very strict regulations for animal research. We argue that, for neuroscience research, until viable and translational alternatives become available and the value of these alternatives has been proven, the use of animals should not be compromised.

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The continued need for animals to advance brain research

Affiliations

The continued need for animals to advance brain research

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources