Reducing animals in epilepsy study

Rats and mice are often used as models for epilepsy research, with several animals undergoing stressful induced seizures, but a scientist from the University of Bath is developing technique to reduce the number of animals used in epilepsy research by 90%.

Dr Roland Jones has received a grant of £363,000 from the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) to help develop a method which uses cultured brain tissue from a single rat to study the disease.

“Unfortunately at the moment, animal experimentation is the only way to study chemical changes that go on in the brain that lead to an epileptic seizure,” said Jones, “However, our new model will mean that tracking the changes leading to epilepsy can be done in one rat in each experiment.”

Jones estimates that this will reduce the number of animals used for these studies by 90%, and that the data will be more accurate because it tracks changes in a single brain over time. This will make results more comparable and quicker to obtain than using several groups of multiple animals.

The new technique will allow researchers to better understand the condition and to develop new drugs to treat the disease, which affects around 50 million people worldwide – 20 to 30% of whom don’t respond to medication.

The grant was one of 13 awarded by NC3Rs this year, totalling over £4 million. Other grants have gone to researchers studying the cause of multiple sclerosis, influenza research, understanding drug addiction and cancer cell biology.

David Willetts, minister of state for universities and science said: “The coalition government supports the efforts of the NC3Rs to minimise animal use in scientific research. These awards will help keep the UK at the forefront of advances in the 3Rs as we seek breakthroughs in treating serious illness.”