Pain in animals is of considerable public concern, particularly where animals are used in biomedical research. Pain can compromise not only animal welfare, but also the validity of scientific results. In order to alleviate pain, we need to be able to assess its severity and duration effectively [1]. If we cannot do this then we are unable to provide adequate pain management or to develop more e...

Public concern on issues such as animal welfare or the scientific validity and clinical value of animal research is growing, resulting in increasing regulatory demands for animal research. Abiding to the most stringent animal welfare standards, while having scientific objectives as the main priority, is often challenging. To do so, endpoints of studies involving severe, progressive diseases nee...

Body temperature is a clinical parameter in vaccine quality control to detect systemic side-effects or to monitor progression of infectious diseases. Moreover, changes in body temperature are used as clinical parameters to define humane endpoints in animal experiments. However, measuring body temperature via the rectal route can be troublesome and distressing to the animal. Non-invasive measure...

Public concern over the use of laboratory animals has increased in recent years. Laboratory animal procedures involving unrelieved pain and distress (e.g., the footpad injection of rodents with Freund's adjuvant), which were routine in the past, now require strong justification. Moral concern is reflected in the existing legislation on animal experimentation in the United States (CFR 1992) and ...