Animal Research (IACUC) Guidelines

UB's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) procedures and guidelines follow nationally established standards to ensure the university's animal research and education is ethical and compliant. 

On this page:

The IACUC guidelines on special procedures

Multiple surgical procedures:


Keep the following in mind when performing multiple surgeries on animals.
 
  1. The nature of the protocol achieves the desired physical or physiological effect.
  2. There is no other alternative available.
  3. The surgical procedure is needed to create the animal model.
  4. Sufficient time between surgeries is allowed for proper recovery.
  5. Written scientific justification is provided to and approved by the IACUC.

The use of physical restraint:

Avoid prolonged restraint unless it is essential for achieving the research objectives.

  1. Keep the period of restraint to the minimum required to accomplish the research objective.
  2. Give animals training to adapt to equipment and personnel.
  3. Provide for observation of the animal at appropriate intervals.
  4. Seek and provide veterinary care if you see lesions or signs of illness.
  5. Restraint devices are not to be considered normal methods of housing.
  6. Don't use restraint simply as a convenience in handling or managing animals.

The use of food/water restriction:

Protocols involving food/water restrictions must include the following provisions:

  1. You must scientifically justify food/water restrictions for research purposes and establish a program that monitors the physiologic and behavior indexes.
  2. Minimally, you must maintain daily logs of food or water intake, recording body weight at least once a week.
  3. Clearly define specific criteria that would trigger an animal’s early removal from the study.
  4. For food restrictions, pay special attention to ensure animals are consuming a balanced diet.
  5. For conditioned-response protocols, we recommend use of a highly preferred food or fluid as positive-reinforcement rather than restriction.