Ethical guidelines, animal profile, various animal models used in periodontal research with alternatives and future perspectives

Abstract

Laboratory animal models serve as a facilitator to investigate the etiopathogenesis of periodontal disease, are used to know the efficacy of reconstructive and regenerative procedures, and are also helpful in evaluation of newer therapeutic techniques including laser and implant therapies prior to application in the human beings. The aim of this review is to know the different animal models used in various specialties of dental research and to know the ethical guidelines prior to the usage of experimental models with main emphasis on how to refine, replace, and reduce the number of animal models usage in the laboratory. An online search for experimental animal models used in dental research was performed using MEDLINE/PubMed database. Publications from 2009 to May 2013 in the specialty of periodontics were included in writing this review. A total of 652 references were published in PubMed/MEDLINE databases based on the search terms used. Out of 245 studies, 241 were related to the periodontal research published in English from 2009 to 2013. Relevant papers were chosen according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. After extensive electronic and hand search on animal models, it has been observed that various animal models were used in dental research. Search on animal models used for dental research purpose revealed that various animals such as rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbit, beagle dogs, goats, and nonhuman primates were extensively used. However, with the new advancement of ex vivo animal models, it has become easy to investigate disease pathogenesis and to test the efficacy of newer therapeutic modalities with the reduced usage of animal models. This review summarized the large amount of literature on animal models used in periodontal research with main emphasis on ethical guidelines and on reducing the animal model usage in future perspective.

Animal experimentation: A look into ethics, welfare and alternative methods

“…These methods include in vitro tests (tissues and cells); the use of vegetables; non-invasive clinical studies in human volunteers; conducting studies with corpses instead; the use of lower organisms that are not classified as protected animals (shrimp and water flea larvae); physicochemical techniques; computer simulations; educational software; films; mathematical models; nanotechnology; and test dummies. 22 Computer models run on specialized software and lower organisms (Figure 3) are the alternatives of choice for assessing the biological effectiveness of active drugs and molecular/genetic studies, 23 respectively. The use of porcine small intestine and pork belly skin has proved useful in teaching suturing, grafting and surgical knotting techniques.…”

“…In dentistry, with the development of an ex vivo culture model, the investigation of inflammatory cell behavior and metabolism in different types of periodontal disease has become easy. 23,26 investigators' ethics…”

Modeling of Hypoxic Brain Injury through 3D Human Neural Organoids

“…Thus, understanding the cellular mechanism of hypoxic resistance requires more than extrapolation from physiological conditions and can yield unique treatment goals [6]. Recent studies on brain ischemia have paid increasing attention to ethical issues and have used models with minimal involvement of animals [11]. The use of animals models will undoubtedly improve the odds of identifying and developing effective therapeutics [12].…”

Alveolar bone repair of rhesus monkeys by using BMP-2 gene and mesenchymal stem cells loaded three-dimensional printed bioglass scaffold

“…Many kinds of animals including rodents, rabbits, dogs, sheep, and non-human primates have been used to perform buccal bone defect model 15 . The incisors of rodents continue to erupt with wear, and cementum and bone on the root’s surface are being remodeled constantly, which changes the position of teeth 16 . Moreover, the metabolism of periodontal tissues is rapid, and even if artificially caused by periodontal bone defects, spontaneous regeneration is often performed, which is difficult to establish a suitable periodontal bone defect model.…”