Seminar 2

Deepak SomanJinxing Huo

Seunghee JeongBirger Marcusson

Shiuli Pujari

Animal Ethics• Research Project:– Understanding how inflammation is affected by

different biomaterials (i.e. nano-scaled materials)

– Use a mouse model to study cell to biomaterial response in vivo

Mouse sacrificed and tissue excised

Ethical Dilemas• Animal suffering – Premature animal death due to the toxicity of the

material• Research results are not always repeatable,

therefore needing more animals to gain concise, conclusive results

• Research results not always applicable to humans

Alternative Solutions• Developing stronger in vitro tests to minimize

the use of animals

• Using high thoroughput systems

• Computer simulations

• Ex vivo systems

Who gets affected?

• Patients The patients who gets the treatment have to bear the good effects and side effects• Medical field Doctors and other medical people related will be affected• Research group• Society

• Values– To make more bio-compatible materials for medical applications

in order to reduce the suffering of patients– Using computer simulations will reduce the number of animals

sacrificed.

• Interest– Economic interest is involved in the solutions and will influence

the choice of solution.

• Duties– The researchers should always keep in mind the safety issue.

Avoid exaggeration or distortion. – The researchers should make sure the materials being used in a

right application instead of being misused.

• Attitudes– People’s attitudes are affected by the results

Effects of solution and alternatives

• Solution; animal test with nanomaterials for bone regeneration• Altenatives; in-vitro test with culturing of biological samples

• Ethical issue can be changed by the benefits of research to human life• Ethical issue can be harder when economy is connected. (For example, commercialization for benetifs)• Ethical conflict always exists due to different situation and needs.

Strength/possibility Weakness/Risk

Solution• Real feasibility test• Research speed (fast)• Research impact (high)

• Animal suffer (Ethical issue)• High cost

Alternative • Less ethical issue• Low cost and easy test

• Different with real system (Not fully feasible)• Imperfect at this time

• The implant should ideally be developed without tests on animals.

• Strive to simulate interactions of humans with implant materials as much as possible.

• An optimal implant should ideally be dissolved and replaced by the patient’s own tissue.

• Delaying the introduction of the implant on the market in case of known toxicity that could cause patient suffering

• Researchers could sign binding agreements with manufacturers to follow certain guide lines, if any, not already covered by the legislation concerning e.g. human and animal welfare.

Optimal Solutions