AETOX - Asociación Española de Toxicología

Inventory of the Spanish Institutions and Scientists Involved in Alternatives to the use of Laboratory Animals (Refinement, Reduction or Replacement)+

Inventory: 14. Overall Evaluation of the Inventory

Of the 103 questionnaires received, several were from groups from other countries, so they were included in the inventory, but not in the analysis of the results. The number of Spanish groups interested in alternatives is quite large (98), 75 very competitives, with more than 339 scientists involved, the media being 4.5 scientists per group.

In relation to the type of institution, the university was the most active in terms of the number of groups (46 %), followed by governmental research facilities (including CSIC) (15 %), industry (13 %), hospitals and governmental service facilities with 7 %, etc.

The main purpose of the work related to alternatives was basic research (29 %), followed by non-regulated applied research (19 %), development of methods (16 %), regulatory testing (14 %), alternatives in education and training (11 %) and validation of methods (9 %).

With regard to the main area of application, the most numerous was clearly toxicology (25 %), followed by biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology (9 %), monitoring (7%), biology and pharmacology (6 %), etc. Nearly all the 20 disciplines of toxicology are represented in similar manner.

Many types of materials are evaluated, including pharmaceuticals (14 %), pesticides and environmental pollutants (11 %), diverse chemical compounds (10 %), wastes (9 %), cosmetics (7 %), vaccines (6 %), etc.

In relation to the type of testing, the results were balanced, with screening (35 %), complementary or adjunct (34 %) and replacement tests (31 %).

Regarding the model systems employed, in vitro techniques (44 %) were the most often used, followed by animals (28 %), models in education and training (8 %), embryos (6 %), and vegetables and human volunteers (4 %). In so far as the animals used, 63 % of the groups employed conventional animals, while 22 % used invertebrates and 15 % transgenics. Within in vitro methods, cell lines were largely used (34 %), followed by primary cultures (25 %), micro-organisms (19 %) and cell-free systems (13 %).

A wide variety of bioindicators were used in in vitro models, including cell viability (19 %), cell proliferation (14 %), metabolic activity (14 %), nucleic acids (9 %), cytoskeleton / enzyme release studies (8 %), biotransformation systems (8 %), morphology (7 %), etc

Compliance with Good Laboratory Practices legislation has been affirmed by more than 50 % of the centres. This is probably not absolutely true, but several institutions are also implementing certification by ISO 9000 and accreditation by EN 45001 rules.

Although only a minimum part of the laboratories have participated in previous validation studies, most of then are available to participate in future validation programmes.

Fuente / Source: Guillermo Repetto, Ana del Peso, Manuel Salguero, Manuel Repetto (1999) Inventory of the Spanish Institutions and Scientists Involved in Alternatives to the use of Laboratory Animals (Refinement, Reduction or Replacement) Revista de Toxicología 16: 50-127.