Citizens for Alternatives
to Animal Research and Experimentation (CAARE)
December 2015
Current research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) claims to induce PTSD in mice using painful electric shocks. Because this experiment sought to study the role of stress on PTSD, they first subjected the mice to stress. The mouse was placed in a ventilated plastic bag for one hour that restricted all body movement. This was repeated the following day. A control group was left unstressed.
Mouse full body restrainer
Photo credit: Braintree Scientific, Inc
TELL the Army Research Office and the National Institute of Mental Health calling for an end to these experiments.
“Today, there are good treatments available for PTSD,” according to the National Center for PTSD, run by the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Treatments such as psychotherapy, group support, cognitive behavioral therapy, and anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs are all available to help alleviate symptoms for victims.
Sign an online petition here.
And/Or better yet, make direct contact:
Dr. Thomas Russell, Director
US Army Research office
[email protected]
Dr. Bruce Cuthbert
Acting Director
National Institute of Mental Health
[email protected]
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition caused
by exposure to a terrifying event involving physical harm or threat of
physical harm. Victims experience symptoms that include flashbacks and
uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Over time, these can lead to
additional chronic symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and mental
distress.
Disappointingly, many researchers are using animals to study PTSD, alleging
to search for better human treatments. “Animal models” fail in so many areas
of biomedical research, and their use in psychology research is especially
baffling because, unlike human patients, animals cannot communicate their
subjective experience, which is essential in psychological research.
Current research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) claims to
induce PTSD in mice using painful electric shocks. Because this experiment
sought to study the role of stress on PTSD, they first subjected the mice to
stress.
The mouse was placed in a ventilated plastic bag for one hour that
restricted all body movement. This was repeated the following day. A control
group was left unstressed.
Not surprisingly, they concluded that stressed animals succumbed more to
the “aversive reinforcement” of the PTSD exposure than unstressed animals.
This and other PTSD research on animals is supported by taxpayer funds from
the National Institute of Mental Health and the U.S. Army Research
Laboratory.
At the start of the experiment, mice had tubes implanted in their brains to
administer drugs and block serotonin, a brain chemical known to play a role
in mood disorders. This was done to try to examine serotonin’s role in PTSD.
Next the researchers used “fear conditioning trials” to create a traumatic
event to model PTSD. Mice were placed in a chamber with an electrified grid
attached to the floor. The grid was used to give strong electric shocks to
their feet lasting up to 2 seconds to intentionally “traumatize” them.
Standard Fear Condition ChamberPhoto Credit: Med Associates Inc
The shocks were paired with a sound. Later, mice were put into the fear
chamber again without being shocked, but the sound was emitted. When the
mouse “froze” in response to the sound, it was interpreted to mean the mouse
remembered the traumatic event.
All animals were killed at the end for brain analysis.
These cruel experiments create an artificial and simplistic view of a
complex human psychological disorder, but continue to be funded at great
cost to the U.S. taxpayer.
Click here to send your polite letter to the Army Research Office and the
National Institute of Mental Health calling for an end to these experiments.
“Today, there are good treatments available for PTSD,” according to the
National Center for PTSD, run by the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
Treatments such as psychotherapy, group support, cognitive behavioral
therapy, and anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs are all available to
help alleviate symptoms for victims.
Valuable human research into PTSD using non-invasive neuroimaging, such
as functional MRI, provides real-time information on the living brains of
PTSD sufferers, producing more human-relevant information.
Animal studies of PTSD provide no significant information that that we don’t
already know, or can’t learn, from human research. More funding for current
treatments to reach more PTSD victims would be far more valuable than
inhumane and imprecise animal experiments.
Let’s not create more victims by subjecting animals to cruel traumatizing
experiments.
Thank you for everything you do for animals!
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