In case people were unaware
of the horrific experiments that take place at Oxford on a daily basis,
here are some of the pointless and truly disturbing examples of the
type of experiments that will take place at the new animal research
centre should it ever be built on South Parks Road.
It is very difficult
to understand the mindset of people that are willing to inflict such
torture on animals, especially when nothing of value is garnered from
carrying out such experiments. It is up to each and everyone of us to
fight the battle against Oxford University and to stop their plans to
increase vivisection.
Please support SPEAK in its endeavours to rid the UK of all forms of
vivisection. It is only through your support that we can put an end
to a shameful part of the history of scientific research in this country
and indeed around the world. In an era of such scientific advancement
isn't it about time we started looking at scientific research of real
value rather than of one based on the most appalling cruelty to animals?
This is more akin to medieval torture centres rather than one based
on modern scientific practices.
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The effect of cingulate cortex lesions on task switching and working
memory
The brain cortex of three 2-4 yr old macaque monkeys was removed
in order to see how this would affect their memory and their ability
to perform tasks requiring concentration. Researchers found that
the monkey which performed worst was the one that had suffered more
brain damage than the others, apparently because the researchers
had caused more extensive damage than they had intended. After the
experiment was completed, the animals were anaesthetised and their
blood supply flushed with formalin which is normally used to preserve
dead animals. The researchers concluded that there was a link between
the brain damage and the resulting impairment in the monkey's altered
behaviour patterns, but could not rule out the possibility that
other areas of the brain may have been responding to the experimental
injury and thus affected the outcome.
Funded by the Royal
Society, Medical Research Council
(UK) and the Wellcome Trust.
The effect of cingulate cortex lesions on task switching
and working memory. Dr.
Matthew Rushworth, Kristie
A Hadland (dead), Dr.
David Gaffan, Prof
Richard (Dick) E Passingham. Journal
of Cognitive Neuroscience 15:3, 338-353.
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The regional cortical basis of achromatopsia: a study on macaque
monkeys and an achromatopsic patient
In an attempt to reproduce achromatopsia (loss of colour vision
in humans), six rhesus monkeys underwent major head surgery at the
Psychology Department of the University of Oxford to remove parts
of their skulls. Significant parts of their brain cortexes were
subsequently also removed. As part of their experiment, researchers
also performed visual tests on a human patient with achromatopsia
caused by brain damage and carried out an MRI scan to determine
the extent of the brain damage. The researchers concluded from the
comparison that symptoms induced artificially through surgical mutilation
in the monkey model did not exactly duplicate the human condition.
To further invalidate the results, the researchers recorded that
this group of monkeys had scored better than a previous group in
which the brain damage inflicted had been more extensive: "their
performance was superior to that of an achromatopsic human subject
and to that previously measured in monkeys with much larger temporal
lobe ablation".
Funded by Medical
Research Council (UK)
The regional cortical basis of achromatopsia: a study
on macaque monkeys and an achromatopsic patient. Alan
Cowey, Prof.
Charles A Heywood, Dr.
Linda Irving-Bell. European
Journal of Neuroscience 14 (2001): 1555-1566.
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Exploration of the role of the upper brainstem in motor control
Although prominent scientists such as Dr
Ray Greek and others have criticised the validity of using animal
models in extrapolating data for understanding human brain disease,
Oxford University scientists continue to use monkeys extensively.
In past experiments, researchers' attempts at reproducing the symptoms
of Parkinson's disease in animal models have involved cutting the
spinal cord in cats and monkeys. This extreme and brutal surgery
caused exaggerated stepping movements in the experimental animals,
intended to resemble the jerky movements of Parkinson's sufferers.
This mimicry, however, was merely superficial since it bore no similarity
to the underlying disease mechanism.
In a series of recent experiments on macaque monkeys, Oxford researchers
implanted electrodes and thin steel tubes deep in the brain. It
is a procedure which involves "substantial suffering" but which
is nonetheless routinely carried out on millions of laboratory animals.
One anaesthetised 5 year old macaque monkey weighing 4.5kg had an
electrode implanted into the brain. Three weeks later, the electrode
was activated to study the effects of electrical stimulation at
different frequencies. In further experiments, two more macaque
monkeys had thin steel tubes (cannulas) implanted into their heads;
two weeks after surgery, chemical substances were injected into
one of the monkeys' brains. This had the effect of severely restricting
normal body movement. Finally, both monkeys were injected intravenously
with a compound called MPTP. This was designed to restrict normal
body movement still further and the effects were so severe that
the monkeys required intensive nursing. At the end of the experiment,
the animals were killed and their brains examined. Researchers concluded
that the experiments had highlighted which parts of monkeys' brains
played a role in reversing chemically induced brain damage and that
the results could be applied to human beings.
Funding: Medical
Research Council (UK) and the Norman
Collisson Foundation.
Exploration of the role of the upper brainstem in motor
control. Dipankar Nandi,
Prof John Stein,
Tipu
Zahed Aziz. Stereotactic
Functional Neurosurgery 2002;78:158-167.
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Unilateral lesions of the cholinergic basal forebrain and fornix
in one hemisphere and inferior temporal cortex in the opposite hemisphere
produce severe learning impairments in rhesus monkeys
In an experiment at Oxford University's department of psychology,
researchers injected toxic chemicals into the brains of seven rhesus
monkeys to induce brain damage. Six weeks later, parts of their
brains were surgically removed. The researchers concluded that the
severe learning impairments (learning visual scenes and object-reward
association) seen in the monkeys were a direct result of the brain
damage inflicted on them! At the end of the experiment, all the
monkeys were killed; they were anaesthetised and perfused with formalin.
Funding: Medical
Research Council (UK)
Unilateral lesions of the cholinergic basal forebrain
and fornix in one hemisphere and inferior temporal cortex in the
opposite hemisphere produce severe learning impairments in rhesus
monkeys. Dr.
Alexander Easton, Dr.
Rosalind M Ridley, Dr.
Harry F Baker, Dr.
David Gaffan, Cerebral
Cortex 2002; 12(7):729-36.
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Reversal of akinesia in experimental parkinsonism by GABA antagonist
microinjections in the pedunculopontine nucleus
In an experiment at Oxford University, two macaque monkeys were
used to mimic Parkinson's disease in humans even though this disease
does not occur naturally in monkeys. In humans, Parkinson's is caused
by the as yet not understood death of cells which produce dopamine
in the brain. In order to reproduce Parkinson's-like symptoms, the
experiment involved injecting one drug directly into their brains,
and another drug intravenously. This compound - called MPTP - can
cause varying degrees of incapacity, tremors, rigidity, and loss
of voluntary body movements depending on the dosage given. The researchers
had observed from the results of experiments previously performed
by other scientists that greater brain damage results in more severe
behavioural symptoms (!). They forced the animals to endure the
debilitating effects of the drug for ten days, during which they
required intensive nursing to keep them alive. At various stages,
the monkeys received a drug (orally, or by injection into the brain)
to reverse, or reduce the experimentally-induced symptoms. In the
final stage of this experiment, both monkeys were given a large
dose of MPTP, whichcompletely immobilised them. The aim of the experiment
was to demonstrate the importance of a particular part of the brain
in the treatment of Parkinson's disease by observing the effects
of directly injecting the drug into that particular area of the
brain. At the end of the experiment, both animals were killed.
Funding: Medical
Research Council (UK) and the Norman
Collisson Foundation.
Reversal of akinesia in experimental parkinsonism by
GABA antagonist microinjections in the pedunculopontine nucleus.
Brain 2002; 125:2418-2430.
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Representations of the texture of food in the primate orbitofrontal
cortex: neurons responding to viscosity, grittiness, and capsaicin
Researchers at Oxford University clearly specialise in time-wasting
exercises. Deciding that mapping the area in the brain which relays
messages about food texture was a subject worthy of research, researchers
implanted electrodes into the brains of two rhesus macaque monkeys,
deprived them of food and water, and subjected them to six hour
recording sessions daily for an undisclosed period of time. They
justified the study by saying that "the texture of food is an important
factor that influences the pleasantness of a food and how much is
eaten". The result obtained by the researchers is that they managed
to identify some of the nerve cells in the monkey brain which tell
the monkey what the texture is of the food it is eating.
Funding: Medical
Research Council (UK)
Representations of the texture of food in the primate
orbitofrontal cortex: neurons responding to viscosity, grittiness,
and capsaicin. Prof
Edmund T Rolls, Dr.
Justus V Verhagen, Dr.
Miki Kadohisa. Journal of
Neurophysiology 2003; 90(6): 3711-24.
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Activity of primate subgenual cingulate cortex neurons is related
to sleep
In another example of pointless research at Oxford University,
researchers in the department of experimental psychology implanted
two rhesus macaque monkeys with brain electrodes in order to record
brain activity during sleeping and waking states - this despite
the fact that non-invasive imaging techniques already yield vast
amounts of information about how the human brain functions during
sleeping and waking states. The monkey experiments merely identified
specific nerve cells involved in these activities. Many similar
experiments involving rats, cats and monkeys have been criticised
by clinical doctors as being of academic interest, but of having
no practical application in human medicine. One such often repeated
experiment criticised by Harvard medical school opthalmologists
was that of sight deprivation performed on kittens to study a human
eye condition known as amblyopia (or "lazy eye"); according to them,
it did nothing to further knowledge about the human condition
Funding: Medical Research Council.
Activity of primate subgenual cingulate cortex neurons
is related to sleep. Prof
Edmund T Rolls, Kazuo Inoue, Andrew Browning. Journal
of Neurophysiology 2003; 90: 134-142.
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Chromatic priming in hemianopic visual fields
Researchers at Oxford University carried out a comparative study
of three adult rhesus macaque monkeys which had been artificially
brain damaged and a 48-yr old human subject whose brain had been
damaged when he was 8 yrs old. Two of the monkeys had had parts
of their brains removed 10 years previously, when they were five
years old. The third monkey - aged 14 at the time of the experiment
- was operated on and then allowed a six month period to recover
before tests were carried out. Both monkeys and human male were
subjected to tests which measured reaction time to a visual stimulus.
The researchers observed at the conclusion of the experiments that
the human subject had never been able to respond as fast as the
fastest monkey, nor were they able to figure out why one monkey
had behaved differently to the others.
Funding: Medical Research Council.
Chromatic priming in hemianopic visual fields. Alan
Cowey, Prof.
Dr. Petra Stoerig, Iona
Hodinott-Hill. Experimental
Brain Research 2003; 152:95-105.
