Literature Searches for Animal Testing Alternatives

For help completing IACUC protocol applications.

Suggested Keywords for Literature Searches

In addition to searching for research similar to your own, you will need to look for literature that mentions alternatives involving reduction, refinement, and replacement of animals in laboratory research. There are a lot of keywords that you can use to perform these searches, many of which are listed below. Since keywords for reduction and refinement overlap by quite a lot, these areas are combined while suggestions for doing a search into replacement options is separate.

Reduction and Refinement

          Adverse
Analgesic, hypnotic, sedative, tranquilizer
Anesthesia, anesthesia, anaesthesia
Anxiolytic
Assay, technique, method, procedure
Enrichment (behavioral, behavioural, environmental)
Euthanasia
Experimental design
Handling, housing, husbandry, caging		           Invasive, non-invasive
Monitoring device
Positive reinforcement
Postoperative, postsurgery
Reduction, refinement
Restraint, restrict, immobilize
Train, educate, teach, instruct
Welfare, pain, stress, distress

Replacement

          Algae, fungus, hydra, plant
Anesthesia, anesthesia, anaesthesia
Animal testing alternatives, alternative
Anxiolytic
Artificial intelligence system, AI
Assay, technique, method, procedure
Autopsy, biopsy
Bacteria, microorganism, protozoan, single-celled organism, yeast
Cadaver
Cell, cell line, cellular
Computer aided instruction, computer assisted instruction, CAI
Culture (cell, tissue, organ)
Digital imaging
Environmental enrichment
Euthanasia
Fish, cephalopod
Insect, invertebrate		           Isolated (cell, tissue, organ)
Mannequin, manikin, manikin
Membrane, organ, organelle, slice, tissue, tissue equivalent
Model (animal, cadaveric, interactive, mathematical, statistical, theoretical), modelling, modeling
Pain, distress
Physicochemical systems
Plastination
Prediction
Replacement, surrogate
Simulation (computer)
Software
Structure - activity relationship
System
Train, educate, teach, instruct
Video
Virtual (surgery, reality)
Vitro (AND method, model, technique)

 

If you are searching PubMed MEDLINE, you may want to review this list of sample MeSH keywords and searches. The National Agricultural Library has a Thesaurus for Animal Research available for searching as well.