Page 97 - NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH) GUIDELINES FOR CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN MINISTRY OF HEALTH (MOH) INSTITUTIONS & FACILITIES 3RD EDITION 2021

Table 1 : Categories of Biomedical Experiments Based on
Increasing Ethical Concerns for Non-human Species.

Categories Examples and Comments

Category A
Experiments involving Biochemical, botanical, bacteriological, microbiological,
either no living or invertebrate animal studies, tissue cultures, studies on
materials or use of no tissues obtained from autopsy or from slaughterhouse,
living materials or use studies on embryonated eggs, invertebrate animals have
of plants, bacteria, nervous systems and respond to noxious stimuli, and
protozoa, or therefore must also be treated humanely.
invertebrate animal
species.

Category B
Experiments on Mere holding of animals captive for experimental
vertebrate animal purposes; simple procedures such as injections of
species that are relatively harmless substances and blood sampling;
expected to produce physical examinations; experiments on completely
little or no discomfort. anesthetized animals which do not regain
consciousness; food/water deprivation for short periods
(a few hours); standard methods of euthanasia that
induce rapid unconsciousness, such as anesthetic
overdose or decapitation preceded by sedation or light
anesthesia.

Category C
Experiments that Exposure of blood vessels or implantation of chronic
involve some minor catheters with anesthesia; behavioral experiments on
stress or pain (short- awake animals that involve short-term stressful restraint;
duration pain) to immunization employing Freud`s adjuvant; noxious
vertebrate animal stimuli from which escape is possible; surgical
species. procedures under anesthesia that may result in some
minor post-surgical discomfort. Category C procedures
incur additional concern in proportion to the degree and
duration of unavoidable stress or discomfort.

Category D
Experiments that Deliberate induction of behavioral stress in order to test
involve significant but its effect; major surgical procedure under anesthesia that
unavoidable stress or result in significant post-operative discomfort; induction of
pain to vertebrate an anatomical or physiological deficit that will result in
animal species. pain or distress; application of noxious stimuli from which
escape is impossible; prolonged periods (up to several
hours or more) of physical restraint; maternal deprivation
with substitution of punitive surrogates; induction of
aggression; procedures that produce pain in which
anesthetics are not used, such as toxicity testing with

6

NIH Guidelines for Conducting Research in MOH, 2021 81