Animal research has contributed to most of the medical advances we now take for granted. We have probably all benefited from vaccines and antibiotics to prevent and treat infections, and anesthetics used in all forms of surgery. Medicines and treatments can now overcome serious conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure and effectively treat life threatening illnesses such as Cancer, Heart disease and HIV to name but a few.
Medical research has saved and improved the lives of millions of people. Animals have benefited too through the extensive development of veterinary medicines and procedures. Today’s medicines and surgical techniques could not have been discovered without an in depth understanding of disease and the way the human body and those of a variety of animal species works. All of which is the result of basic research programmes in universities, hospitals and research institutes across the world. These insights can then be taken forward by pharmaceutical companies to develop new medicines which doctors and vets use to treat their patients.
Our client Cambridge University explains the vital use of animals in their own Cancer research studies.
A short clip explaining why animals are essential in medical research and drug discovery.
Medical and scientific organisations and leading scientists all agree that animal research is essential for medical progress.
“Scientific and medical research is a drawn-out process and the contribution of animal research is frequently overlooked by the time successful therapy reaches patients. We live longer and healthier lives than ever before. Whilst there have been remarkable improvements in the human environment, animal research has played a major part in developing improvements in human health. Animal research advanced the treatment of infections, helped with immunisation, improved cancer treatment and has had a major impact on managing heart disease, brain disorders, arthritis and transplantation.”
– Professor Robert Winston
Look at the timeline from the website www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk and follow their links to see how animal research plays a key role in the development of many of the vaccines and treatments that we have today.
More detailed, evidence-based information about the contribution of animal research to medical and scientific advances is available at AnimalResearch.info
Please note that none of the information on our website is intended as medical advice. Further information on specific conditions and their treatment can be found at NHS Direct.
For further reading why not take a look at the following documents*:
Animal research has benefits for us all – and animals too: Click here for more.
Where do medicines come from? Click here for more.
Timeline of the world’s medical advances
Pre 20th century breakthroughs in medical research:
Animal research model used: birds
At the end of the 19th century, malaria was believed to be contracted through inhalation of dirty water. Several biologists, Manson, Koch, King and Lavern, separately developed the theory that malaria may be caused by mosquito bites.
Animal research model used: sheep
Anthrax is an infectious disease due to a type of bacteria called Bacillus anthracis. Infection in humans most often involves the skin, gastrointestinal tract, or lungs.
Animal research model used: rabbits, dogs
Rabies is a very serious viral infection that targets the brain and nervous system. It is spread by animals to humans. Once the symptoms of rabies have developed, the condition is almost always fatal.
Animal research model used: mice, rats
Experiments on cholera immuno-serum in guinea-pigs showed that unlike previous sera, it did not affect bacterial toxins, but provided immunity by preventing the bacteria from moving and growing. This was termed bacteriolytic immunity. As with anti-toxic immunity, animals could gain immunity through injection with the blood of an immunised animal.
Animal research model used: chickens
In 1912 Gowland Hopkins showed that beriberi could be caused by lack of nutrients in the diet. He investigated the nutritional needs of rats and mice, feeding young rats on casein, lard, sucrose, starch and minerals. Half the group also received 2ml of milk daily. Those receiving the milk grew well.
Animal research model used: cattle
The first vaccine was famously developed by the physician Edward Jenner in 1796. He had noticed that milk-maids had unusually smooth skin, and realised that they were not scarred by smallpox scars.
Animal research model used: cats, rabbits, dogs
Fifty years before an anaesthetic was used in patients, Humphrey Davy had demonstrated that nitrous oxide produced a reversible state of unconsciousness in animals. He subsequently inhaled the gas himself, noting on one occasion that the gas relieved toothache.
Animal research model used: mice, rats
Typhoid, sometimes known as enteric fever, is a disease caused by the bacterium Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. Classic typhoid fever is a serious disease. It can be life-threatening unless treated promptly with antibiotics. The disease lasts several weeks and convalescence takes some time.
Animal research model used: mice, rats
Plague is an acute bacterial infection caused by the organism Yersinia pestis. Natural infection occurs in a range of mammalian species including rodents, cats and other carnivores, and humans.
Scientific breakthroughs from 1900 to Today:
When: 1900’s
Animal research model used: dogs
Rickets is a condition that affects bone development in children. It causes the bones to become soft and malformed, which can lead to bone deformities.
When: 1900’s
Animal research model used: rabbits, dogs
At about the same time that nitrous oxide in cylinders replaced the use of chloroform, Koller demonstrated that cocaine applied to the eye of a rabbit could induce loss of sensation, thus paving the way for use of cocaine as a local anaesthetic in eye surgery.
When: 1910’s
Animal research model used: dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits
Blood transfusion has saved the lives of countless people and animals. The technique was developed when treated blood was shown to be safe for transfusion in dogs in 1914.
When: 1930s
Animal research model used: rats, rabbits, dogs, cats, monkeys
The most widely used modern intravenous anaesthetic is thiopentone sodium. Effective doses of this barbiturate were established by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, working with rats, rabbits and dogs.
When: 1930s
Animal research model used: guinea pigs, rabbits, horses, monkeys
In 1888 Pierre Roux and Alexandre Yersin showed that the liquid in which the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae had been grown caused diphtheria, by injecting it into guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, cats and horses.
When: 1940s
Animal research model used: mice
Florey and Chain first tested the effects of penicillin in mice in 1940. By 1941, penicillin was being used to treat dying soldiers. This research won the Nobel Prize in 1945.
When: 1940’s
Animal research model used: guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, monkeys
The first practical demonstration of this process, known as continuous dialysis of blood was by John Abel in 1914, using anaesthetised rabbits and dogs and dialysis membranes made from treated parchment.
When: 1940’s
Animal research model used: dogs
Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a technique that temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs during surgery, maintaining the circulation of blood and the oxygen content of the body.
When: 1950’s
Animal research model used: dogs, sheep, goats
A hip replacement is a common type of surgery where a damaged hip joint is replaced with an artificial one (known as prosthesis).
When: 1950’s
Animal research model used: dogs
Wilson Greatbatch, an American electrical engineer, invented the first implantable cardiac pacemaker, in 1958. He also invented pacemaker batteries, which were essential to its function.
When: 1950’s
Animal research model used: dogs, calves, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats
From the 1950s onwards there were many attempts to build artificial valves, that mimicked the anatomy of heart valves, from artificial materials. A team at the University of Minnesota established the structure of heart valves taken from cattle and human cadavers.
When: 1960’s
Animal research model used: dogs
The first human-to-human heart transplant in 1967 by Professor Christiaan Barnard in South Africa was big news. Few people knew that the operation was the culmination of more than 60 years of preparatory animal research.
When: 1960’s
Animal research model used: monkeys
Rubella (also known as German measles) is a viral infection that used to be common in children. Rubella is usually a mild infection
When: 1960’s
Animal research model used: rats, guinea pigs, rabbits
Experiments in both humans and animals (rats, mice and non-human primates) provided the first evidence that changes in the levels of chemical messengers in the brain, ‘neurotransmitters’, could alter an individual’s emotional state.
When: 1970’s
Animal research model used: mice
Leukaemia is a group of cancers which affect the white blood cells. In the early 1970s, research using mice found that it is vital to destroy all malignant cells in order to get rid of the cancer.
When: 1970’s
Animal research model used: cats, dogs
Migraine is a disorder usually involving headaches, which can be debilitating, and affects around six million people in the UK.
When: 1980’s
Animal research model used: sheep, rabbits, cattle
In 1870, infant death rates reached their peak, with almost one in four babies dying at birth. This appalling level triggered the first attempts to use incubators to help premature babies.
When: 1980’s
Animal research model used: monkeys
In 1870, infant death rates reached their peak, with almost one in four babies dying at birth. This appalling level triggered the first attempts to use incubators to help premature babies.
When: 1980’s
Animal research model used: many species
First reported in 1981, AIDS was quickly shown to be a mysterious epidemic which spread with no known cause. Scientists thought a retrovirus could be the infectious agent.
When: 1990’s
Animal research model used: mice, monkeys
First reported in 1981, AIDS was quickly shown to be a mysterious epidemic which spread with no known cause. An extensive population study the following year suggested that the epidemic had already spread globally.
When: 1990’s
Animal research model used: rats
Drugs developed to treat depression act by increasing the amount of certain chemicals in our brains. These neurotransmitters communicate between nerve cells. Our brains contain many different neurotransmitters, but the two that are particularly important in depression are serotonin and noradrenaline.
When: 1990’s
Animal research model used: mice
Diabetes cannot be cured, but treatment aims to keep your blood glucose level as normal as possible and to control your symptoms to prevent health problems developing later in life.
When: 1990’s
Animal research model used: rabbits
Statins are cholesterol-lowering medicines. They may be used to treat: hypercholesterolaemia, a high level of cholesterol in the blood. Statins may also be used to reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
When: 2000’s
Animal research model used: mice
Tetanus vaccine allows your body to create antibodies against the tetanus toxin (tetanospasmin). This protects you from the illness if you are exposed to the Clostridium tetani bacterium in the future.
When: 2000’s
Animal research model used: goats
Blood clotting (coagulation) disturbs blood flow, and is essential to stop bleeding after a cut. But clotting in the wrong place can lead to deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, heart attacks and strokes. Anticoagulants are used to prevent or treat these.
Within the next 5 to 10 years
Animal research model used: mice, rats
The most widely used modern intravenous anaesthetic is thiopentone sodium. Effective doses of this barbiturate were established by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, working with rats, rabbits and dogs.
Within the next 5 to 10 years
Animal research model used: mice
In 1888 Pierre Roux and Alexandre Yersin showed that the liquid in which the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae had been grown caused diphtheria, by injecting it into guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, cats and horses.
Within the next 5 to 10 years
Animal research model used: mice
Immunotherapy targeting beta-amyloid can clear plaque in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease. Clinical studies have shown promise, but with some severe side effects arising from inflammation.
When: 1900’s
Animal research model used: rabbits
A cornea transplant is an operation used to remove all or part of a damaged cornea and replace it with healthy cornea tissue from the eye of a suitable donor.
When: 1900’s
Animal research model used: guinea pigs
Axel Holst and Theodor Frølich, two Norwegian physicians studying shipboard beriberi in the Norwegian fishing fleet, wanted a small test mammal to substitute for the pigeons then used in beriberi research. They fed guinea pigs their test diet of grains and flour, which had earlier produced beriberi in their pigeons, and were surprised when classic scurvy resulted instead.
When: 1920s
Animal research model used: dogs, rabbits, mice
Surgeon Frederick Banting and graduate student Charles Best found that injections of pancreatic cell extracts relieved diabetic symptoms in dogs. The extracts contained insulin, which was then purified using a technique developed in rabbits.
When: 1930s
Animal research model used: horses, guinea pigs
Tetanus vaccine allows your body to create antibodies against the tetanus toxin (tetanospasmin). This protects you from the illness if you are exposed to the Clostridium tetani bacterium in the future.
When: 1930s
Animal research model used: rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, dogs
Blood clotting (coagulation) disturbs blood flow, and is essential to stop bleeding after a cut. But clotting in the wrong place can lead to deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, heart attacks and strokes. Anticoagulants are used to prevent or treat these.
When: 1940’s
Animal research model used: monkeys
Rhesus disease – also known as haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn – is a condition where antibodies in a pregnant woman’s blood destroy her baby’s blood cells.
When: 1940’s
Animal research model used: mice, rabbits
In 1931, before vaccination, a standard textbook of bacteriology stated that whooping cough “may be looked upon as one of the major causes of death in civilised countries”. At this time it was responsible for 1.3{d032a66a408d42071468e1b0b17ea416de8281560e8e4d053b72cbe361c2f33d} of all deaths in England and Wales.
When: 1950’s
Animal research model used: mice, monkeys
In 1908, Dr Karl Landsteiner and Dr Erwin Popper used extracts from the spinal cord of a boy who had died from polio to replicate the disease in monkeys.
When: 1950’s
Animal research model used: dogs
Research using animals has been involved in developing the techniques of kidney transplants, which give patients freedom from dialysis, allowing them to lead a normal life.
When: 1950’s
Animal research model used: rats, mice, dogs
Research into Brazilian pit viper venom produced the first in a new class of medicines to lower blood pressure – angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors.
When: 1950’s
Animal research model used: rats, rabbits, monkeys
First synthesized on December 11, 1950, chlorpromazine was the first drug developed with specific antipsychotic action.
When: 1960’s
Animal research model used: dogs
A coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) is a surgical procedure widely used to treat coronary heart disease. It diverts blood around narrowed or clogged parts of the major arteries (blood vessels), to improve blood flow and oxygen supply to the heart.
When: 1960’s
Animal research model used: monkeys
MMR is the combined vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella. Since the vaccine was introduced in 1988, the number of children who develop these conditions has fallen to an all-time low.
When: 1970’s
Animal research model used: pigs
A CT scan uses X-rays and a computer to create detailed images of the inside of your body.
When: 1970’s
Animal research model used: guinea pigs, rabbits
Asthma is the most common serious childhood illness and still causes about 2,000 deaths a year in the UK. Animal research was used to develop the medicines in the inhalers used by many people, including children, today.
When: 1980’s
Animal research model used: rabbits, pigs
US Chemist Paul Lauterbur was present during early analysis of dissected rat tissue by NMR, and felt that it should be possible to study a whole animal in a non-invasive way. Early in the 1970s he generated a two-dimensional image.
When: 1980’s
Animal research model used: rodents, cattle
Onchocerca is a parasitic worm that harms 6.5m people in Africa and South America, blinding many of them. The real cause might be the Wolbachia bacteria that live on the worm. Mice infected with extracts from antibiotic-treated worms showed significantly less thickening and haze of the eye’s cornea.
When: 1980’s
Animal research model used: mice, rabbits, dogs, monkeys
In 1916 Little and Tyzzer also showed that tumours transplanted from one mouse to another of the same strain were not rejected, but mice of a different strain would reject them.
When: 1980’s
Animal research model used: armadillos, monkeys
The core body temperature of the armadillo is low enough to favour the growth of the leprosy-causing bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. Using the armadillo, scientists were able to develop an experimental vaccine against leprosy.
When: 1990’s
Animal research model used: mice
Vaccines for several types of meningitis have been developed in mice and have resulted in a huge fall in the disease. Previously many victims died or had amputations or organ damage.
When: 1990’s
Animal research model used: mice, rats, dogs
More than 42,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK, making it the most common cancer in women after non-melanoma skin cancer. Animal studies contributed to the development of tamoxifen, one of the most successful treatments.
When: 1990’s
Animal research model used: guinea pigs, monkeys
Asthma is the most common serious childhood illness and still causes about 2,000 deaths a year in the UK. Animal research was used to develop the medicines in the inhalers used by many people, including children, today.
When: 2000’s
Animal research model used: monkeys
The most widely used modern intravenous anaesthetic is thiopentone sodium. Effective doses of this barbiturate were established by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, working with rats, rabbits and dogs.
When: 2000’s
Animal research model used: rabbits, cattle
In 1888 Pierre Roux and Alexandre Yersin showed that the liquid in which the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae had been grown caused diphtheria, by injecting it into guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, cats and horses.
When: 2000’s
Animal research model used: chickens and ferrets
As of January 2012 the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed there have been 583 cases of H5N1 in humans. People who have had bird flu are thought to have developed the virus after coming into close or direct contact with infected birds.
Within the next 5 to 10 years
Animal research model used: mice
Tetanus vaccine allows your body to create antibodies against the tetanus toxin (tetanospasmin). This protects you from the illness if you are exposed to the Clostridium tetani bacterium in the future.
Within the next 5 to 10 years
Animal research model used: mice
Blood clotting (coagulation) disturbs blood flow, and is essential to stop bleeding after a cut. But clotting in the wrong place can lead to deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, heart attacks and strokes. Anticoagulants are used to prevent or treat these.
Within the next 5 to 10 years
Animal research model used: mice, monkeys
Three types of vaccine are envisaged: anti-infection vaccines, anti-disease vaccines, and transmission-blocking vaccines.
Without Scientific research all our lives would be far worse off. Mankind has developed treatments, cures, medicines and surgical procedures that have increased our life expectancy beyond any other method. Based on the breakthroughs shown above in only a short 100 years who knows where we will be in the next 100 years, a cure or vaccine for all Cancers? Dementia? AID’s?
With such a deep understanding of human and animal biology and continued investment in research it is entirely possible.
Talk to a recruiter at S3 Science today and see how your career can make a difference.
* taken from the website www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk
Benefits of Animal Research
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Our position statement on the use of Animals in Medical research
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