Makarova M.N. Cats in laboratory studies. Literature review. Laboratory Animals for Science. 2021; 1. https://doi.org/10.29296/2618723X-2021-01-09
For many years, cats have been successfully used in preclinical studies. It should be noted that with the popularization and active implementation of the principles of humane treatment of animals in research (3Rs principles) all over the world, the number of animals of this species has begun to decrease. Bioethics commissions are examining in detail the protocols of research using this type of animal. According to Understanding Animal Research in England (2019), 131 cats were used for preclinical studies. A figure not comparable to the number of mice and rats used in preclinical studies, nevertheless, cats as a test system make a unique contribution to the drug development process, this type of animal indispensable in experimental neurology, ophthalmology, retroviruses research, hereditary and immunodeficiency diseases. During the development of genetic engineering and breeding, it was planned that over time highly-organized animals, such as cats, would be completely replaced by knockout transgenic mice for preclinical research purposes. It was assumed that knockout transgenic mice would reflect all the necessary experimental models to study specific gene mutations. In practice, however, knockout mice with defects of certain genes could have no clinical signs of pathology, have a lethal form of the disease, or have clinical signs that do not correspond to those in humans. At the same time, many hereditary diseases of cats are almost identical to those in humans, which increases the transnationality of the data obtained. It should be noted that the size of this type of laboratory animal allows conducting studies, the design of which involves taking a large volume of biomaterial (blood, urine, etc.), these advantages over rodents (mouse, rat, hamster, etc.) make the cat an indispensable test system for studies on the evaluation of pharmacokinetic parameters for several test objects. The article describes the main areas of preclinical studies in which it is advisable to use cats as test systems (models of infectious diseases, models of non-infectious diseases, eye diseases, models of respiratory system pathology, models on isolated cat organs); hereditary diseases of cats are also considered. According to Understanding Animal Research in England (2019), 131 cats were used for preclinical studies. This figure is not comparable to the number of mice and rats used in preclinical studies. nevertheless, cats, as a test system, make a unique contribution to the drug development process. This animal species is indispensable in experimental neurology, ophthalmology, retrovirus research, hereditary and immunodeficiency diseases. In the course of the development of genetic engineering and breeding, it was planned that over time, highly-organized animals, for preclinical research purposes, would be completely replaced by knockout transgenic mice. It was assumed that knockout transgenic mice would reflect all the necessary experimental models to study specific gene mutations. In practice, however, knockout mice with defects of certain genes could have no clinical signs of pathology, have a lethal form of the disease, or have clinical signs that do not correspond to those in humans. At the same time, many hereditary diseases of cats are almost identical to those in humans, which increases the transnationality of the data obtained. It should be noted that the size of this type of laboratory animal allows conducting studies, the design of which involves taking a large volume of biomaterial (blood, urine, etc.). These advantages over rodents (mouse, rat, hamster, etc.) make the cat an indispensable test system for studies on the evaluation of pharmacokinetic parameters for several test objects. The article describes the main directions of preclinical studies in which it is advisable to use cats as test systems (models of infectious diseases, models of non-infectious diseases, eye diseases, models of respiratory system pathology, models on isolated cat organs); hereditary diseases of cats are also considered.