UCL releases animal research statistics alongside fellow top institutions

UCL and nine other institutions together conducted half of all animal procedures – those used in medical, veterinary, and scientific research – in the UK in 2022.

The statistics are freely available on UCL’s animal research website as part of our joint commitments to transparency and openness around the use of animals in research.

This list coincides with the publication of the Home Office’s report on the statistics of scientific procedures on living animals in Great Britain in 2022.

These ten organisations carried out 1,434,403 procedures, 52% of the 2,761,204 procedures carried out on animals for scientific research in Great Britain in 2022. Of these 1,434,403 procedures, more than 99% were carried out on mice, fish and rats and 82% were classified as causing a similar level of pain, or less, as an injection.

The ten organisations are listed below alongside the total number of procedures they carried out in 2022. Each organisation’s name links to its animal research webpage, which includes more detailed statistics. This is the eighth consecutive year that organisations have come together to publicise their collective statistics and examples of their research.

64 organisations have published their 2022 animal research statistics

UAR has also produced a list of 64 organisations in the UK that have publicly shared their 2022 animal research statistics. This includes organisations that carry out and/or fund animal research.

All organisations are committed to the ‘3Rs’ of replacement, reduction and refinement. This means avoiding or replacing the use of animals where possible; minimising the number of animals used per experiment and optimising the experience of the animals to improve animal welfare. However, as institutions expand and conduct more research, the total number of animals used can rise even if fewer animals are used per study.

Professor Geraint Rees, UCL Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) said: “Animal research forms a small but vital part of biomedical research at UCL, contributing to life-saving medical advances from cancer to dementia to Covid-19 and beyond. Our scientists use animals in their research only when necessary, while continually striving to develop new ways to replace animals in their research, reduce their usage, or refine their methods to mitigate harm, without detracting from the quality and potential impact of the research.”

All organisations listed are signatories to the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK, a commitment to be more open about the use of animals in scientific, medical and veterinary research in the UK. More than 125 organisations have signed the Concordat including UK universities, medical research charities, research funders, learned societies and commercial research organisations.

Wendy Jarrett, Chief Executive of Understanding Animal Research, which developed the Concordat on Openness, said: “Animal research remains a small but vital part of the quest for new medicines, vaccines and treatments for humans and animals. Alternative methods are gradually being phased in, but, until we have sufficient reliable alternatives available, it is important that organisations that use animals in research maintain the public’s trust in them. By providing this level of information about the numbers of animals used, and the experience of those animals, as well as details of the medical breakthroughs that derive from this research, these Concordat signatories are helping the public to make up their own minds about how they feel about the use of animals in scientific research in Great Britain.” 

Case study: Head injuries could be a risk factor for developing brain cancer

Researchers from the UCL Cancer Institute have provided important molecular understanding of how injury may contribute to the development of a relatively rare but often aggressive form of brain tumour, in a study largely carried out in mice.

The team identified a possible mechanism to explain a reported link between head injury and risk of rare brain tumours called glioma, implicating genetic mutations acting in concert with brain tissue inflammation to change the behaviour of cells, making them more likely to become cancerous. The study suggests that it would be important to explore the relevance of these findings to human gliomas.

Gliomas are brain tumours that often arise in neural stem cells. More mature types of brain cells, such as astrocytes, have been considered less likely to give rise to tumours, but recent findings suggest that after injury astrocytes can exhibit stem cell behaviour again.

The researchers therefore set out to investigate whether this property may make astrocytes able to form a tumour following brain trauma using a pre-clinical mouse model.

Young adult mice with brain injury were injected with a substance which permanently labelled astrocytes in red and knocked out the function of a gene called p53 – known to have a vital role in suppressing many different cancers. A control group was treated the same way, but the p53 gene was left intact. A second group of mice was subjected to p53 inactivation in the absence of injury.

The researchers found that without p53 and only after an injury the astrocytes had retracted their branches and become more rounded. After the mice aged, the team looked at the cells again and found they had completely reverted to a stem-like state with markers of early glioma cells that could divide. This suggested that mutations in certain genes synergised with brain inflammation, which is induced by acute injury and then increases over time during the natural process of ageing to make astrocytes more likely to initiate a cancer. Indeed, this process of change to stem-cell like behaviour accelerated when they injected mice with a solution known to cause inflammation.

The team also found evidence in humans to support their hypothesis. By consulting medical records, they found that patients who experienced a head injury were nearly four times more likely to develop a brain cancer later in life, than those who had no head injury. The risk of developing a brain cancer is overall low, estimated at less than 1% over a lifetime, so even after an injury the risk remains modest.

Links

• UCL Animal Research website
• Detailed facts & figures of animal research at UCL
• Understanding Animal Research news story
• Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK
• News story: Head injuries could be a risk factor for developing brain cancer

Image

• Lab mice at UCL (Credit: David Bishop, UCL)

Media contact

Chris Lane

Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9222

Email: chris.lane [at] ucl.ac.uk