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From: demikhov@neuro.usc.edu (V P Demikhov)
Newsgroups: sci.misc,sci.med,sci.bio,sci.research
Subject: Re: case studies for animal research?
Message-ID: <31574@usc>
Date: 3 Apr 91 05:28:36 GMT
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In article <11869.27f795ed@zeus.unomaha.edu> conslt01@zeus.unomaha.edu (The Oracle) writes:
>I am doing research about using laboratory animals for scientific research. 
>I need case studies desperately, as the paper is due <in about two weeks>...
>I recognize the need for using animals for research, but feel that too many 
>animals are being used ... with duplication of studies that have already 
>been proven time and time again (or disproven) ...

Case Study #1

Take, for example, the enormous literature demonstrating the memory for
conditioned taste aversion in the rat depends critically on the insular
neocortex. Numerous experiments by investigators over the past 30 years
demontrate that destruction of the insular cortex abolishes preexisting
memory for taste aversion.  However, no previous investigator took care
to avoid damage to the middle cerebral artery in the course of excising
the insular cortex.  When you carefully avoid any damage to this artery
while removing the insular neocortex the memory remains unharmed.  This
means that although the experiment has been repeated many times by many
investigators -- they were all wrong -- the effect came from infarcting
over half of the brain; not from the destruction of the insular cortex.

The simple lesson then is that you cannot just trust the literature ---
even if the literature has grown to a substantial volume of experiments
by a large number of investigators over the years.  In the words of one
of one of our greatest leaders (on detent): "TRUST ... BUT VERIFY!!!"

VPD