Introduction

Welcome to the Altweb database on humane endpoints. This database is designed to help investigators find the earliest "endpoint" that is compatible with the scientific objectives of their research. An endpoint may be defined as "the point at which an experimental animal's pain and/or distress is terminated, minimized, or reduced by taking actions such as killing the animal humanely, terminating a painful procedure, or giving treatment to relieve pain and/or distress."*

"Humane endpoints" aren't necessarily labeled as such, however, and articles that may be pertinent very often don't use the term. This makes the process of compiling database on humane endpoints both difficult and at least somewhat subjective. We can't claim that this database is comprehensive. Rather, it is a first attempt at making resources on this important topic more readily accessible.

Actual selection of an endpoint should involve consultation with the laboratory animal veterinarian and the animal care and use committee. For additional resources on humane endpoints, please see http://altweb.jhsph.edu/topics/humane-endpoints.htm.

* From the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) Guidelines on Choosing an Appropriate Endpoint in Experiments Using Animals in Research Teaching and Testing (1998) http://www.ccac.ca/english/gui_pol/gdlines/endpts/APPOPEN.HTM.

Database Development

This database was developed by Dr. Krys Bottrill, former Deputy Scientific Director of FRAME (the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments) and an internationally known expert in searching for alternatives. FRAME, founded in 1969 in the United Kingdom, was the first organization to focus specifically on promoting the development and use of alternative methods. FRAME is a member of the Altweb Project Team.

The database currently contains 222 entries, nearly all of which include abstracts (in some cases, the abstracts were added by the database developer). It also includes a "Comments" field, for cases when additional information would be useful -- if the author abstract does not make it totally clear why the article is relevant to humane endpoints, for example, or to emphasize the most salient information when the abstract is very long and complicated. The database covers the period 1981-2003, but it doesn't necessarily include every possible relevant article from that time.

These references were drawn from searches on Medline, Embase, Biosis, ISI World of Science, and Agricola (with an emphasis on Medline). Each positive hit on Medline was then used as the basis for a Medline search for similar articles, which were again combed through exhaustively. Likewise, each positive hit on Medline was examined to see if there were any repeating themes in the index terms used that could be used for further searches. Search terms included (but were not limited to): humane endpoint, early endpoint, early indicator, predictive of, telemetry, telemetric, noninvasive, biomarker, marker, animal welfare, and laboratory animal welfare.

The process also involved searches through the contents of laboratory animal science journals available on the Web, searches of the full-text books available on the National Academy of Sciences web site, and searches of alternatives-related sites, such as Altweb and FRAME, as well as the Internet more broadly. In addition, it involved manual searches through a variety of non-indexed literature, including the proceedings of all four World Congresses on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, handbooks on laboratory animal medicine and welfare, and a number of laboratory animal science journals that are not available online.

Search the Database
http://apps2.jhsph.edu/altweb/humane/search.cfm