1. JPS Guide

Guiding Principles for the Care and Use of Animals in the Field of Physiological Sciences

The Physiological Society of Japan (December 5, 2003)

Animal experiments are an unavoidable necessity in pursuing teaching and research activities in the field of physiological sciences. Results obtained from such experiments have contributed much to the understanding and elucidation of the function of living organisms. Their application to medical science and therapeutics has played an important role in the development of human and animal health and welfare. For even greater developments of education and research in physiology, the Physiological Society of Japan (hereafter called PSJ) urges all physiologists performing and participating in animal experiments mainly using vertebrates in Japan to adopt the following guiding principles for animal experiments. It is the intention of the PSJ that all animal experiments should be designed and conducted on a valid scientific and ethical basis, and that sufficient consideration should be given to animal welfare. To ensure that these guiding principles are upheld, presentations at academic meetings of the PSJ and papers to be published in The Journal of Physiological Sciences (hereafter called JPS) should be restricted to those that have been confirmed by the committee for animal experiments of each institute or university or by the PSJ.

Ethical standards for the animal experiments, designed to cover both science and animal welfare, have been described and discussed in the following publications:

In concert with these ethical standards and in view of the recent act of “Rules for the Protection and Care of Animals” and “Plans for the Protection of Beasts and Birds,” we now revise the previous version of “Guiding Principles for the Care and Use of Animals in the Field of Physiological Sciences” of the PSJ (December 19, 1988).

General Principles

Maximum efforts should be made to respect the lives of experimental animals and to treat them humanely with deep concern for their welfare. Efforts should be made to fulfill the following three principles:

(1) To minimize any possible discomfort and stress to experimental animals by improving experimental procedures in all aspects(Refinement). (2) To replace animal experiments with non-animal experiments, whenever possible (Replacement). (3) To obtain scientifically valuable results from the least possible number of experimental animals (Reduction).

Actual Guidlines

1. How to obtain and transport animals

All experimental animals must be obtained from legally approved sources. If and when wild animals are to be used for experiments, they should be captured in accord with rules that do not harm the environment or associated natural resources. In regard to imported animals, only those that are permitted by the Washington Treaty can be used. All experimental animals must be inspected for disease or injury by veterinarians or by individuals who have professional knowledge of animal health care. These inspections must be performed when the animals are received and while they are maintained until use to allow the appropriate personnel to prevent the spread of disease and infection among the animals themselves or between the animals and any personnel who may come into contact with them.

2. Maintenance of the animals

(1) Housing and equipment
Experimental animals should be maintained in clean and well controlled facilities. When, for inevitable reasons, experimental animals will be raised outside of these facilities, the researchers specialized in the care of experimental animals should prepare clean and well controlled room spaces and take special care and attention against loss of animals because of escape or theft. They should also minimize the noises and smells of the animals and protect them and their handlers against infection.

(2) The raising environment and the control of living conditions
The cages for experimental animals should have enough space according to the animal species and their sizes. Care should be taken to keep the cage and its surroundings clean with adequately controlled air, light, temperature, and humidity. The foods to be used should be suitable in terms of nourishment, digestion, and the experimental methodology selected. Fresh water should be available ad libitum. Furthermore, care should be taken to allow the animals to behave and exercise normally and to minimize their fear and anxiety.

(3) Procedures to be followed in the event of disease
If a disease is discovered, researchers should immediately consult veterinarians or individuals with specialized knowledge of animal disease. Following their advice, researchers should administer treatments that are designed to cure the disease and to guard against the spread of infection.

3. Plans and procedures for the animal experiments

(1) Planning of experimental designs
Plans for animal experiments for the purpose of research and education should clearly indicate how the following considerations will be incorporated. First, the purpose and results of the experiments must be scientifically sound and highly valuable. Second, experimental procedures should be designed in ways that guard animal welfare while the animals are housed and that cause no unnecessary discomfort to the animals at any stage (before, during, or after the experiments are conducted). Third, plans should be designed to minimize the number of experimental animals used and needed to perform the proposed experiments. Fourth, all methods should include precautionary measures to protect experimenters and feeders from injury or disease. And fifth, no illegal practices or procedures should be used at any stage of any experiment.

(2) Examinations of the experimental plans
The principal investigator for each experiment to be performed must obtain written approval by the committee for animal experiments of the experimental protocols to be used at each institute. No experiments can be performed without this approval.

(3) Filing the data of animal experiments and its maintenance
The principal investigator should maintain descriptions of all animal experiments in the form of “files of animal experiments.” Every file should include a copy of the approved experimental protocols for animal experiments, descriptions of the action and process after some health problems or after any accidents that may have happened, and copies of all presentations and publications that resulted from the experiments.

(4) Qualifications as experimenters
Experimenters must be well trained in experimental procedures and the handling of animals. Researchers without sufficient experience in animal experiments should conduct experiments only under the guidance of well-trained researchers.

(5) Measures to avoid or minimize pain and to minimize physical restraint
Maximum precaution should be exercised to avoid causing pain or agony to experimental animals during all experiments. Restraints of the animal bodies, if necessary during experiments, should be attached only when the animals have become well accustomed. The extent that food and water are restricted, if necessary, should cause no measurable suffering to the experimental animals. Only the necessary number and types of experiments that will cause pain and stress should be done after an evaluation of the experiments by the committee for animal experiments at each institute or university.

(6) Surgical procedures
Surgical procedures on experimental animals should be done with presurgical care, sterilization, and disinfection. If animal pain is to be avoided, experimenters should take enough care for postsurgical medications in addition to anesthesia during surgery.

(7) Treatment after the experiments
When animals are to be disposed of after the experiments are completed, they must be killed humanely in accordance with a notification issued by the government in “Guides for the Disposal of Animals” by administering an excessive dose of anesthetic or by some other recognized means. All contamination of the environment by the disposed animal bodies and/or by facilities and equipment used for the experiments, should be prevented.

4. Health and security of experimenters and feeders

It is necessary to maintain secure and healthy working environments for experimenters and feeders throughout animal maintenance and performance of experiments. Maximum efforts should be made to prevent injuries (e.g., bites) and infection from the animals and contamination of the environment by using disinfectants and detergents, and especially to prevent the spread of infectious diseases that are common to human and beast by quarantine procedures.

5. Supervision of the animal maintenance and experimental conditions

The committee for the animal experiments of each institute is responsible for the supervision of whether animal maintenance and experiments take into consideration the welfare of humans and animals. If a university, institute, or other research facility has no committee for animal experiments, the PSJ committee is ready to fulfill this role temporarily and will provide suggestions on how to establish such a committee.

6. Publication of experimental results

The experimental materials for presentation at academic meetings of the PSJ or for publishing in the JPS are limited to those approved by the committee for animal experiments of the institute the member belongs to or by the PSJ committee.