Resumen

VICTORIA AMADOR, María del Carmen  y  MORON RODRIGUEZ, Francisco J.. Bioethics in animal research to validate medicinal plant uses in the Central Laboratory of Pharmacology. Rev Cubana Plant Med [online]. 2010, vol.15, n.3, pp.157-168. ISSN 1028-4796.

INTRODUCTION: bioethics in research involving laboratory animals has shown important advances in Cuba and worldwide. OBJECTIVES: to update information about the research ethics involving animals and its development in Cuba and in research laboratory setting. METHODS: The main scientific biomedical literature database available and also Google were reviewed (BVS-BIREME, PubMed, LILACS, SciELO, EBSCO) using key words bioethics, animals and experimental. The obtained information was analyzed to ascertain whether it could be used for the present paper. RESULTS: the concepts of ethics and bioethics, the use of animals as source of knowledge and biological models were reviewed. The importance of health control, the barriers, genetics and the production in certified centers, the environmental conditions of breeding and experimentation were stated; the bioters and the advantages of the most used species were characterized; the importance of alternative methods as the 3R principle (replacement, reduction and refining) as well as the ethical considerations that one must take into account since they are alive were also pointed out. The present situation in Europe, North America, Latin America and Cuba- where the National Center for the Production of Laboratory Animals is the leading center of lab animal production- was assessed. The Central Laboratory of Pharmacology, its objectives, the techniques and animal species used there were described. A comparison was made between the number of animals used in the past and at present. CONCLUSIONS: the implementation of bioethical principles of lab animal experimentation is a priority in Cuba.

Palabras clave : bioethics; experimentation animals; laboratory animals.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )