Resource Book for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols

Download the Resource Book for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols [PDF]

On February 7, 2006, the American Physiological Society (APS) published a Resource Book for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols. This book was developed during series of meetings in 2003 and 2004 involving experts in the fields of exercise physiology and animal research models. It is intended for researchers, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs), and those involved with research oversight. The authoring committee, which was comprised of exercise physiologists and laboratory animal veterinarians, reviewed reference material and drew upon their own experience to compile suggestions about how to design, review, and implement experimental paradigms involving animals and exercise. The APS Resource Book was peer reviewed by other exercise physiologists and laboratory animal veterinarians.

The opening chapter of the Resource Book outlines the scope of the document and addresses the relevance of studying exercise in general as well as the specific question, why study exercise in animals? It explains how the suggestions about the use of animals in exercise paradigms contained in the APS Resource Book fit into the context of U.S. animal welfare requirements, including the Animal Welfare Act, the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Animals, and the ILAR Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Specifically, the APS Resource Book is intended to promote an informed dialogue that can help researchers and their IACUCs arrive at satisfactory answers to questions about how to assure the welfare of animals in exercise research protocols. To this end, the APS Resource Book includes 399 reference citations.

Topics addressed in the APS Resource Book include general concerns such as selecting appropriate animal models for exercise research, study design considerations, animal stress, working with compromised animals, and the impact of surgery on exercise. A separate chapter covers common exercise protocols using rats and mice because these are currently the species used most frequently in exercise studies. Another chapter considers exercise protocols using large animals such as horses, pigs, and dogs. A third chapter discusses exercise protocols involving species such as rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, cats, goats, sheep, nonhuman primates, birds, and fish. In addition to an extensive list of citations, the book also includes appendices on hind limb suspension and immobilization of rats and mice and a set of sample animal exercise protocol scenarios for IACUCs and principal investigators.

NIH’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) sponsored the development of the APS Resource Book.

Download the Resource Book for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols [PDF]