Experiments at the University of Manchester

Here you can read about just some of the cruel experiments conducted at the university. Click through the boxes below to learn what the University of Manchester have done to animals on their campus.

Pregnant Rats Harmed in Experiments

Year:

2022.

Summary:

Pregnant rats were deliberately injected with a substance to mimic a virus, administered via injections directly into their abdomens. This caused their bodies to release chemicals that are known to induce pain. At the end of the experiment, the female rats were killed via exsanguination – extreme blood loss – and their unborn babies via decapitation (having their heads cut off). Shockingly, this research was not required by law and, due to the unreliability of animal experiments, inflicting prolonged suffering on the rats would have been for questionable gains.

The experiment aimed to study:

  • How a viral infection during pregnancy might impact the brain of developing offspring,
  • This non-essential research was mostly driven by scientific curiosity,
  • The procedures inflicted severe and prolonged suffering on the rats,
  • The experiment completely disregarded the well-being of the rats. Their suffering was seen as acceptable to gain scientific knowledge.

Link to paper:

‘Maternal immune activation in rats induces dysfunction of placental leucine transport and alters fetal brain growth’

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9366863/pdf/cs-136-cs20220245.pdf

Details of Experiment:

Animals – species and age: 

Species: Wistar rats (both female and male) 

Age: Not specifically stated, but the female rats weighed between 220 and 315 g (mean 262.8 g) and were virgin, suggesting they were mature adults. 

 Number of animals used: 

63 female Wistar rats were used in the experiment. 

The female rats were pair-housed with males and kept in cages. 

 What happened to the animals: 

  • Female rats were bred with male rats, marking the beginning of their pregnancy when a vaginal plug was found. This process involves forcing animals into mating situations, which disregards their natural behaviours and autonomy. 
  • The pregnant rats were subjected to a treatment designed to induce inflammation in their bodies. This step exposes the animals to potential stress and discomfort. 
  • A substance that mimics a virus, known as a viral mimetic, was used to provoke an immune response. This method of artificially inducing illness poses risks to the health and wellbeing of the rats. 
  • The researchers examined how the placenta and yolk sac transported amino acids at various stages of the pregnancy. This involved invasive procedures that cause stress and harm to both the mother and her developing offspring. The focus on fetal brain development and growth raises questions about the necessity of using living animals for such research when there are alternative methods available. 

What happened to them at the end of the experiment: 

The mother rats were killed by severe damage to the spine (cervical dislocation). Foetuses were killed by having their heads chopped off (decapitation). 

What the experiment was trying to discover: 

The experiment looked into how infections in pregnant mothers can impact the transfer of nutrients from the mother to the developing baby. Researchers looked at how changes in nutrient transport could affect brain development in the baby and potentially increase the risk of conditions like schizophrenia later in life. 

Species differences and non-animal methods: 

The biology and development of rats are very different from those of humans. This means that the findings do not accurately reflect what happens in human pregnancies, making the data unreliable when drawing conclusions about the effects on human health. 

Species differences: Animal experiments often fail to translate to humans because there are significant physiological and genetic differences between species. Rats are much smaller than humans, have different metabolic rates, immunological functions, and body structures. Rats and humans have differences in terms of placental structure, how the body of the mother and baby interact, and how the food sac for the baby works within the mother’s body. This means rat pregnancies are different to human pregnancies. Such interspecies differences render it highly problematic to assume that a viral reaction in rats would be the same in humans. This harrowing experiment stands as a stark example of the extremes of animal cruelty that can occur in the name of ‘research’, at some universities. 

Non-animal methods: Non-animal approaches to studying pregnancy complications include in vitro cell cultures of human placental or uterine cells, 3D organoids that mimic the placenta and uterus, and stem cell models like induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to study early development. Organ-on-a-chip technologies, such as placenta-on-a-chip, simulate organ functions in a lab environment, while computer modelling and AI simulations may be used to predict pregnancy outcomes or drug effects.