IACUC: Animal Alternatives Resources

Many people make the mistake of putting the term “alternatives” in the strategy and expect to find “all” possible alternatives. Because alternatives is a complex concept involving refinement, reduction and replacement, the use of  “alternatives” as a search term is best used only in those areas of study where larger amounts of research have been conducted on alternatives, such as in toxicology or education. In other areas of research the term “alternatives” often retrieves results not related to the 3Rs.

Adverse
Analgesic OR hypnotic OR sedative OR tranquilizer
Anesthesia OR anesthesia OR anaesthesia
Anxiolytic
Enrichment AND (behavioral OR behavioural OR environmental)
Euthanasia
Experimental design
Handling OR housing OR husbandry OR caging
Non-invasive
Monitoring device
Positive reinforcement
Postoperative OR postsurgery
Reduction OR refinement
Restraint OR restrict OR immobilize
Welfare OR pain OR stress OR distress

• Paste this search into PubMed: ("Pain"[Mesh] OR "Pain Management"[Mesh] OR "Anesthesia and Analgesia"[Mesh] OR  "Analgesics"[Mesh] OR "Analgesics"[Pharmacological Action] OR "Anesthetics"[Mesh] OR  "Anesthetics"[Pharmacological Action] OR "Animal Welfare"[Mesh] OR "Animal Use Alternatives"[Mesh] OR "Stress, Psychological"[Mesh] OR "Stress, Physiological"[Mesh] OR stress[tiab] OR distress[tiab] OR pain*[tiab] OR analgesia[tiab] OR analgesic*[tiab] OR anesthesia*[tiab] OR anesthetic*[tiab] OR welfare[tiab] OR alternative*[tiab] OR “Disease Models, Animal”[mesh] OR “animal model”[tiab])

Algae OR fungus OR hydra OR plant
Animal alternatives OR alternative
Artificial
Artificial intelligence OR AI
Bacteria OR microorganism OR protozoan OR single-celled organism
Cadaver OR autopsy
Cell OR cell line OR cellular
Computer aided instruction OR computer assisted instruction OR CAI
Culture AND (cell OR tissue OR organ)
Digital imaging
Fish OR cephalopod
Insect OR invertebrate
Isolated AND (cell OR tissue OR organ)
Mannequin OR manikin
Membrane OR organ OR organelle OR slice OR tissue 
(Model OR modelling OR modeling) AND (animal OR cadaveric OR interactive OR mathematical
OR statistical OR theoretical)
Plastination
Replacement OR surrogate
Simulation
Software
Three-dimensional OR 3D OR 3-D AND (image OR images OR imaging)
Train OR educate OR teach OR instruct
Video
Virtual AND (surgery OR reality)
Vitro AND (method OR model OR technique)

• Paste this search in PubMed: (("Computer Simulation"[Mesh] OR simulation[tiab] OR "Cadaver"[Mesh] OR cadaver[tiab] OR "Culture Techniques"[Mesh] OR "Cells, Cultured"[Mesh] OR "cultured cells"[tiab] OR "cell culture"[tiab] OR "cell cultures"[tiab] OR vitro[tiab] OR "Models, Theoretical"[Mesh] OR model[tiab] OR models[tiab] OR modeling[tiab] OR modelling[tiab] OR "Manikins"[Mesh] OR manikin[tiab] OR manikins[tiab] OR mannequin[tiab] OR mannequins[tiab])) AND (("Imaging, Three-Dimensional"[Mesh] OR three-dimensional[tiab] OR 3D[tiab] OR 3-D[tiab]) AND (image[tiab] OR images[tiab] OR imaging[tiab]))

AWIC Animal Search Hedges 

"Search hedges are pre-made, standardized search strings that can be used to identify relevant articles for a specific research topic or population. They can save time and ensure all relevant keywords, related terms, and synonyms are included. 

AWIC developed search hedges for various laboratory animal species as well as other 3Rs topics. AWIC plans to post hedges for 3Rs alternatives methods such as environmental enrichments, social housing, abnormal behavior, and other topics in 2024." - AWIC Website

Simple Animal Search Terms

For use in PubMed (MEDLINE) database:

“Cats”[Mesh] OR cat[tiab] OR cats[tiab] OR feline[tiab]

"Dogs"[Mesh] OR dog[tiab] OR dogs[tiab] OR canine[tiab] OR canines[tiab]

"Guinea Pigs"[Mesh] OR guinea pig[tiab] OR guinea pigs[tiab]

"Mice"[Mesh] OR mice[tiab] OR mouse[tiab] OR mus[tiab] OR murine[tiab]

(("Primates"[Mesh] NOT "Humans"[Mesh]) OR "non-human primate"[tiab] OR "non-human primates"[tiab])

“Rabbits”[Mesh] OR rabbit[tiab] OR rabbits[tiab] OR lagomorpha[tiab]

"Rats"[Mesh] OR rat[tiab] OR rats[tiab] OR rodent[tiab] OR rodents[tiab]

"Sheep"[Mesh] OR sheep[tiab] OR ovis[tiab] OR ovine[tiab]

"Swine"[Mesh] OR swine[tiab] OR pig[tiab] OR pigs[tiab] OR porcine[tiab]

Note: The tag [tiab] searches for the term in the title and abstract

For use in Scopus database:

TITLE-ABS-KEY (cat OR cats OR feline)

TITLE-ABS-KEY ( canine OR dog OR dogs )

TITLE-ABS-KEY(guinea pig OR guinea pigs)

TITLE-ABS-KEY(mice OR mouse OR mus OR murine OR rodent OR rodents) 

TITLE-ABS-KEY(rabbit OR rabbits OR lagomorpha)

TITLE-ABS-KEY(rat OR rats OR rodent OR rodents)

TITLE-ABS-KEY (rhesus OR macaca OR macaque OR "non?human primate*") 

TITLE-ABS-KEY(sheep OR ovis OR ovine)

TITLE-ABS-KEY(swine OR pig OR pigs OR porcine)

Non-animal models, also known as new approach methodologies, (NAMs) are becoming increasingly popular in research. The Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) defines NAMs as, "as a broadly descriptive reference to any non-animal technology, methodology, approach, or combination thereof that can be used to provide information on chemical hazard and risk assessment" (ICCVAM, 2018). In short, NAMs are defined as research models that replace the use of animals. The AVIS search strategies group has created non-animal model search hedges to help you search for alternatives. Access the hedges in the attached document.