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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APS Contacts
Alice Ra’anan
301.634.7105 or
araanan@the-aps.org
The American Physiological
Society Announces the Publication of a
Resource Book for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols
BETHESDA, Md (Feb. 8, 2006) - The American
Physiological Society (APS) announces the publication of a Resource Book
for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols. This book was developed
during a 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 PDF of the book is available online at
http://www.the-aps.org/pa/action/exercise/.
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 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, and single copies
are available free of charge from OLAW while supplies last. Contact
OLAW@od.nih.gov to request a free copy. Copies may also be purchased for
$9.50 each from the APS store (www.the-aps.org/store/).
# # #
The American Physiological Society (APS)
was founded in 1887 to foster research on life processes in living
organisms. It is based in Bethesda, Maryland, and has more than 10,000
members.
The APS publishes about 4,000
articles annually in its 14 peer-reviewed journals, organizes scientific
meetings, and sponsors educational programs to advance the field of
physiology. In May 2004, APS received the
Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering
Mentoring.
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