Chien Ho is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) as well as the director of the Pittsburgh NMR Center for Biomedical Research. The Ho lab is another group who uses mice in the majority of their research because the procedures involved are too cruel to do to animals covered by the already weak animal welfare act. Mice and rats are not covered and can have almost anything done to them. To see a video about mice and rats used in research, refer to a previous entry here. Ho's research also includes procedures which span everything from traumatic brain injuries [1,2,4] to suffocation induced heart attacks [3].
In one study, Ho and colleagues took young rats and forced them to asphyxiate (suffocate) for 8.5, 9 or 12 minutes and then resuscitated them [3]. They are then given MRI's (a harmless technique that can be and is used to stdy humans) to study brain loss. This study was allegedly done to study the affects these things would have on humans. However, if these scientists are of the opinion that rats are so different from humans that they are not even given the minimal protection for lab animals, why would they be decent models for human disease? This article did not tell us how these animals met their deaths.
In another study, the lab uses "knock out" mice [4], meaning mice that are genetically engineered to have a gene missing- in this case, a gene that participates in anti-microbial and anti-tumor activities within the body. They then would induce a "controlled cortical impact" on the already vulnerable mice meaning they induce head injuries. Again, allegedly to help humans using animals that differ so greatly from humans. The animals suffer and die while the money that could be spent helping humans in research is spent genetically engineering and injuring mice.
In another study, Ho and colleagues transplanted hearts from one group of rats into another to study cellular differences [5], again, in animals that differ greatly in their microscopic make-up from humans. This research can not be defensible in terms of ethics nor can it in terms of predicting human response. To contact Chien Ho, email him at chienho@cmu.edu.
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References
[1] Foley LM, Hitchens TK, Melick JA, Bayir H, Ho C, Kochanek PM. Effect of inducible nitric oxide synthase on cerebral blood flow after experimental traumatic brain injury in mice. J Neurotrauma. 2008 Apr;25(4):299-310.
[2] Dennis, Alia Marie; Melick, John A; Jenkins, Larry W; Clark, Robert S; Kochanek, Patrick M; Foley, Lesley M; Hitchens, T K; Ho, Chien. (2006). Effect of hemorrhagic shock on cerebral blood flow in experimental traumatic brain injury: Magnetic resonance imaging assesment. Critical Care Medicine. 34(12) Abstract supplement:A5.
[3] Magnetic resonance imaging assessment of regional cerebral blood flow after asphyxial cardiac arrest in immature rats
[4] Foley LM, Hitchens TK, Melick JA, Bayir H, Ho C, Kochanek PM. (2008). Effect of inducible nitric oxide synthase on cerebral blood flow after experimental traumatic brain injury in mice. J Neurotrauma. 25(4). 299-310.
[5]Qing Ye, MD; Yijen L. Wu, PhD; Lesley M. Foley, BS; T. Kevin Hitchens, PhD; Danielle F. Eytan; Haval Shirwan, PhD; Chien Ho, PhD. Longitudinal Tracking of Recipient Macrophages in a Rat Chronic Cardiac Allograft Rejection Model With Noninvasive Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Micrometer-Sized Paramagnetic Iron Oxide Particles.
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