Ethics and animal issues in US medical education.

Increasing public and regulatory agency concern about a variety of animal protection issues that affect the field of medicine have made these issues increasingly relevant to medical school curricula. The purpose of this study was to assess the availability and forms of medical school training relating to ethical, conceptual, and societal concerns in the use of animals within the field of medicine and the perceived need for such training. Questionnaire surveys were mailed to the Deans of the 125 accredited US medical schools, and completed by Deans or their designees within the same medical institution. Questionnaire recipients were informed that results would be compiled in a fashion that did not identify specific individuals or institutions. Survey responses were obtained from 84 medical institutions (67% response). Sixty respondents (71%) indicated that their medical school offered or sponsored some type of activity related to ethical and conceptual concerns in the use of animals in medical research and training. Most schools (43) offered informal discussions/seminars relating to these issues, but nine schools offered full formal courses with up to 15 lectures on these topics. Programme content and perceived need for additional instruction varied greatly amongst respondents. The results suggest a wide diversity amongst US medical schools in the availability and perceived importance of medical school training relating to ethical and conceptual concerns in the uses of animals in medicine. It is proposed that instruction in these areas be pursued with more concerted efforts to address the growing body of knowledge about non-human beings and the ethical implications of such knowledge.

The effects of maternal ethanol consumption on the distribution of leukocyte subsets in the lactating mammary gland of rats.

Significant immunological protection is provided to the newborn by the transfer of maternal leukocytes during nursing. The objective of this study was to determine if ethanol ingestion altered the distribution of T, B and accessory cells in the mammary glands of normal rats or in rats infected with Trichinella spiralis (T. spiralis). In addition, female rats were fed either Lieber/DeCarli regular (18% protein) or higher protein (25% protein) ethanol-containing liquid diets for pregnant or lactating rats or were pair-fed the corresponding isocaloric control diets to assess changes in cellular distribution due to dietary content. In the first experiment (short-term ethanol), animals were placed on either 18 or 25% protein diet (ethanol or pair-fed) on day 1 of pregnancy. In the second experiment (long-term ethanol), animals were placed on 18% protein diet (ethanol or pair-fed) for 30 days prior to mating, mated and then placed on either 25% protein diet (18%/25% animals) or kept on 18% protein diet (18%/18% animals) through pregnancy and lactation. In the third experiment (long-term ethanol, immunized), animals were fed 18%/25% protein diet (ethanol or pair-fed) as in experiment 2 and were infected intragastrically with 1000 T. spiralis larva on day 15 of pregnancy. All animals were sacrificed on day 2 of lactation, the mammary gland removed and weighed. Frozen sections of mammary gland from each animal were incubated with monoclonal antibodies directed against antigens associated with rat T cells (W3/13), suppressor/cytotoxic (OX8) or helper (W3/25) T cell subsets, macrophages (ED2) or rat IgA (B cells) and processed for peroxidase anti-peroxidase (PAP) immunocytochemistry. The total number of antigen positive leukocytes/high powered microscope field (hpf), intraepithelial leukocytes/hpf and alveolar connective tissue leukocytes/hpf was determined for each stain by counting 100 hpf and the data were compared by statistical analysis. Significant differences in mammary gland weight between ethanol-treated and pair-fed animals were observed in the long-term 18%/18% protein diet experiment in which animals fed ethanol had significantly lower mammary gland weights. Ethanol-treated short-term animals maintained on the 18% protein diet through pregnancy, showed decreased numbers of IgA+ B cells and W3/13+ T cells/hpf in the alveolar connective tissue compartment and this decrease was reflected in total cells/hpf. Long-term 18%/18% protein diet, ethanol-fed animal showed increases in total IgA+ B cells and W3/13+ T cells/hpf as compared with pair-fed controls.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)