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Have Animals Made it Safer

God Bless the Rodents: The Roles of Animals in Vaccine Testing

Did you know that before vaccines are tested on humans, they’re first applied in animals? Indeed, animals have become a very wonderful subject in dissimilar types of clinical trials, just like cosmetics.

Reasons for the Use of Animals

There are 3 primary factors why animals are being used in vaccine testing. For one, scientists need to ensure that these drugs are harmless before humans use them. Second, because animals are considered to be almost relative to humans, they are used to determine if pharmaceutical items are perfect and effective for human beings. Third, animals make great species to experiment on for further biological research.

The ways used in developing recent vaccines are extremely variable, depending on the kind of bacteria or virus. Experiments on animals are normally needed in choosing the first substances in the formula. This is to establish the formulation and stability of the vaccine. It is also utilized to determine the mode and frequency of the vaccine administration.

Vaccine Production with the Help of Mice

The mouse is the major species being used during production of vaccines. In Netherlands, sometime in 1986, around two-thirds of biological product experiments were done on mice. During the real way of vaccine production, only the blood of animals or serum can be needed during media culture.

In bacterial vaccines, blood or serum is at times required in culture media, and so far, this is where the role of animals ends. However, the way of producing viral vaccines is broader. It involves a number or techniques like purification, packaging, concentration, and free drying. These viruses are either reproduced in animal or human cells.

Vaccine Testing Involving Animals

There are a number of vaccine testings that need to be performed, and oftentimes animals are used:

To test a particular toxicity

This test is taken to determine incomplete vaccine inactivation. Usually, purified or concentrated product is injected into the mice. The animals are then noticed for any symptoms.

To test tumorigencity

This test is undertaken to determine if cells utilized for the viral vaccine production are exhibiting oncogenic properties. In this testing, two animal groups are used. The controlled animals are injected with particular tumor cells while the other group is injected with production culture cells. These groups will then be liable to closer study to observe if there is any tumor development.

Test of safety

This test is to determine if the vaccine is harm-free. Animals are given multiple doses of the vaccine and they are noticed for any symptoms during a particular period.

Test for identity

This is to determine if the product can stimulate particular antibodies after the vaccine is administered. The process normally used is an in vitro method. The particular antibodies should be demonstrated on animals after immunization. This can be done via exposing the animal to an environment filled with a clear cut virus or via serum-antibody assay.

Test for toxic abnormalities

This test is utilized to identify if there are unknown poisons present in the vaccines. It can be that 2 guinea pigs are given 5 human doses of the vaccine or that at least 2 to 5 mice are given 1 human dose. These animals are then monitored for any modifications in their weight and health.

Testing for potency. There might be a need for quantitative and qualitative assay to confirm if the vaccine can produce effective immunity. For inactivated vaccine, every batch of vaccine is tested via in vivo technique. The animals are then noticed to check if the vaccine can exhibit the needed efficiency related to the vaccine’s content and if it doesn’t weaken over time.

The Role of Rhesus Monkeys

The HIV virus is a retrovirus related only to humans. This means that the virus is not found naturally in other animals. Primates such as a number of monkey species and chimpanzees can be infected with SIV, from which the virus is often attributed to HIV. They can also be infected artificially if these animals are used in laboratory testing.

However, they don’t acquire AIDS because of their fantastic immune system. Thus, it’s very hard to evaluate if the vaccine really is potent. Because of this, rhesus monkeys become effective substitutes. These primates from Asia, aren’t susceptible to SIV and thus don’t produce any natural immune reactions to the disease. Thus, drugs and vaccines associated to AIDS are first applied to these animals.

For some, this may be seen as cruelty. But for humans, we should be grateful that these animals become the factors why we are, in fact, living because of highly effective vaccines.

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