Unlike wildlife, there are some animals that live in Pusan National University (PNU) facilities under an animal keepers’ care. These are experimental animals. They are born and live their whole lives in a cage. This point caused people to have discussions about the treatment of animals, from small creatures like mice to pigs and dogs, as well as the experimental ethics.

The Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources PNU (ILAR) has been taking responsibility for experimental animals’ care and experiments in PNU, and PNU Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) have been taking charge of the judgment in ethics education, and experimental ethics and suitability. Laboratory Animal Resource Center under ILAR operates nine centers in total, including five at the Busan campus, two at the Yangsan campus, and two at the Miryang campus.

The animals that are raised at the Laboratory Animal Resource Center on the Yangsan campus, are mice and rats, which are rodents. Experimental animals are transferred to the center by a specialized company, and the agreement of  IACUC is needed to order them. Additionally, the researchers must submit protocols following the “Three Rs principle,” which stands for Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement. The three Rs principle is typically considered as a systematic approach to animal experimental ethics. Its goal is to replace animal experiments with other methods (replacement), to reduce the number of animals (reduction), and to refine the experimental methods in tests to an absolute minimum (refinement).

If it is determined that the protocol is not suitable, it may be recommended to edit and resubmit it. Lee Hee-Young (Manager, ILAR) said, “As social, ethical awareness is increased and laws are strengthened, the part related to animal testing has also become tricky.”

Once the protocol is approved, ILAR will place an order for laboratory animals to a company. The animals transferred to the center are assigned to a breeding facility with different environments, distinguished by their species, research purpose, and health status. The facilities are managed under thorough disinfection and preventive measures for epidemic and are divided into three stages followed by cleanliness. Each center deals with the animals’ living environment through an inspection of IACUC every year. An animal keeper of ILAR Laboratory Animal Resource Center at the Yangsan campus said, “Laboratory animals have never experienced living in the wild, so they can easily lose their lives even with tiny changes. We are also carefully operating the facilities in aspects of humidity, temperature, and disinfection so that the animals can be raised in the best environment possible.”

Regarding PNU, the researchers in the College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, School of Korean Medicine, College of Natural Resources & Life Science, College of Human Ecology, and College of Natural Science have been participating in animal tests. The researchers must be educated about experiment ethics under IACUC before submitting the protocol and must record the number of issued completions in the research protocol to get approval.

Before ILAR was established in December 2018, each laboratory conducted animal testing and breeding. However, ethical issues have been posed constantly, and there were doubts about the reliability of the experiments. Manager Lee said, “I think the university plays a key role to reduce the use of laboratory animals, supplement facilities, and make efforts to conduct animal experiments in an ethical environment.”

Reporter Jo Seung-Wan

Translated by Park Yeon-Hee