Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: Gilbert and the Departments of Surgery and Bioengineering

Dogs in research laboratory cages, where they spend most of their lives. Photo Credit: Yves Forestier/CORBIS SYGMA

Thomas W. Gilbert of the University of Pittsburgh McGowan institute for regenerative medicine does a variety of surgical and bioengineering research on nonhuman animals. The Gilbert lab uses many species of animals in their research, but the two most often used are man's best friends and their farm animal equivalents- pigs. Dogs and pigs are both very intelligent, friendly animals. Their domestication has led them to be companions of humans for thousands of years and recent studies have shown that dogs are very similar to humans in their social behavior. In the Gilbert lab, they are not human companions, they are research subjects.

While many of Gilbert's publications are not open to the public, and the specific details unavailable, the research abstracts briefly describe many of these processes.

In one study, Gilbert's lab induced seroma formations in dogs [1]. A seroma is a pocket of fluid that develops in the body of animals (including humans) after surgery. Seromas can be very painful. These animals were "designed" to reliably form seromas, which do not always occur in surgery. On top of this, dogs differ greatly from humans on a cellular level. Nonetheless, these dogs were given seromas in their abdomens, and to injure them even further, "additional tissue damage was inflicted using electrocautery." Electrocautery means using heat and electricity to burn the tissue much like a soldering iron.

In other studies, they damaged the thoracic walls (the walls of the wind pipe) of dogs and then used parts of their own ribs to heal the holes [2,3]. They also patented their methods and undoubtedly make money from spreading the word about their research, while inspiring others to adopt similar practices. Many other publications detailing other painful procedures on dogs, pigs, and other animals can be found here. For your reference, "canine models" use dogs and "porcine models" use pigs.

Under the guise of helping humans, these dogs endured painful procedures and ultimately death. Unfortunately, animal models do not reliably predict human response. Contact Thomas Gilbert at gilberttw@upmc.edu .

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.


References
[1] Gilbert, TW et al. (2008). Lysine-derived urethane surgical adhesive prevents seroma formation in a canine abdominoplasty model. Plastic reconstructive surgery. 122(1), 95-102.
[2] Gilbert, TW et al. (2008). Repair of the Thoracic Wall With an Extracellular Matrix Scaffold in a Canine Model. Journal of Surgical Research. 147(1). 61-67.
[3] Gilbert, TW et al. (2008). Morphologic assessment of extracellular matrix scaffolds for patch tracheoplasty in a canine model. Ann Thorac Surg. 86(3). 967-74

Send To Phone