The Multidisciplinary Center for Biological Research in the Area of Science in Laboratory Animals (Cemib) at Unicamp will have its structure expanded and improved with the installation of the Multi-User Center for Health Assessment, Genetics and Assisted Reproduction. “Added to the our know-how, the new center will enable technological advances for the entire scientific community”, says researcher and coordinator of Cemib, Daniele Masseli Rodrigues.
The project was approved in a notice by the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp) and draws attention to the University's potential when it comes to strengthening research in the medical-biological area within the State.
More than US$762 will be invested in the acquisition of highly sophisticated equipment – similar to that used in the most advanced biotery centers in the world, emphasizes the coordinator. “We will create conditions for professionalized production of special, genetically modified animals, which will contribute to the study of metabolic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity, as well as cancer and some types of syndrome, among other conditions.”
As it is a multi-user center, outside scientists will be able to access the equipment. The structure is expected to be completed by 2030. “We will develop complex protocols with high technology, deepen research that is already underway, expand the range of services for research centers and encourage entrepreneurship with the transfer of expertise for the private sector", adds Rodrigues.
As an example of the highly complex procedures and methods that the multi-user center's equipment will make available, Cemib researchers cite intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), an advanced fertilization technique applied in fertilization. vitro (IVF).
For much of the last decades, the main need in the area of laboratory animals was to produce healthy individuals, with sanitary and genetic quality, on a large scale.
Cemib, which began as a conventional vivarium, followed this trend and became an Animal Core Facility – a reference center also for researchers outside Unicamp.
In recent years, however, a fundamental transformation has been taking place in laboratories that use animal models. The researcher and former Cemib coordinator Luiz Augusto Corrêa Passos explains it.
“With the genetic revolution, there was a drastic change. The challenge now is no longer to produce healthy animals on a large scale, but to produce a great diversity of strains. That's where this multi-user center project comes in. Once again, Cemib managed to see this horizon.”
But what characterizes these lineages and how does this model differ from what was most practiced previously? Many carry human genes - these are called "humanized" lineages. Others generate transgenic animals, which have their genome modified by introducing DNA sequences from another organism.
And there are also so-called knockout animal strains, in which genetic modification interrupts or cancels (hence the "knockout") certain genes, which stop expressing themselves. These lineages, as explained by Cemib researchers, are used to study specific diseases, syndromes and dysfunctions. For example: if a scientist wants to study high blood pressure, he will use an animal model with a gene modified for this purpose.
“When we didn’t have animals with these characteristics, we needed to carry out several tests and arrive at the most representative response to the phenomenon using statistical methods. Today, the results are more faithful. And the animal only needs to be used once for the experiment. Each lineage is unique”, explains Passos, who joined Cemib as an intern in the 1980s, and followed the entire evolution of the unit.
Data from International Mouse Strain Research (IMSR) indicates a 70% growth in the number of mouse strains registered globally in the last three years. In Brazil, Cemib is one of the only animal facilities that seeks to follow this movement.
“The preservation of lineages does not necessarily need to occur in the form of live animals. We use cryopreservation, freezing sperm, ovaries and embryos. When necessary, we can thaw and reactivate the lineages”, says the scientist.
According to Passos, this trend also means progress from an ethical point of view, as fewer animals need to be kept in the laboratory and the tests carried out are less invasive.
Reduce, replace and refine
Unicamp was one of the first universities in Brazil to have its Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee. To work with rats or mice, researchers need to demonstrate that there are no alternative methods for that purpose.
According to Cemib researchers, there are still no alternatives in the world that would allow the total abolition of the use of rats and mice in medical-biological research.
In this context, scientists say that concerns about the welfare of animals in laboratories are currently taken seriously (which did not happen in the past, at least in a systemic way), while alternative methods have been increasingly used.
“This subject is widely discussed in the scientific community and at the main conferences in the area. Today, we observe considerable evolution and we are very advanced when we compare [the current situation with that of] the past”, says Rodrigues.
Brazil also joined some of the international efforts in this regard. According to the researcher, the principle of the 3R's, in its acronym in English (reduce, replace, refine: reduce, replace and refine), is very strong abroad and is adopted by Cemib in its laboratory practices.
Rodrigues cites some national initiatives seeking to disseminate this principle, such as the Brazilian Center for Validation of Alternative Methods (Bravcam, its acronym in English) and the National Network of Alternative Methods (Renamas). The idea is to use animals as strictly necessary and always in less and less invasive experiments.
The topic gained regulation in Brazil through the Arouca Law, which establishes limits for research, guarantees the comfort of animals and protects them against abuse.
In March last year, a resolution from the National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (Concea) prohibited the use of vertebrates in research aimed at the development of personal hygiene products, cosmetics and perfumes.
