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Cambridge University primate experiments came to public attention in 2002 after the publication that year of material from a ten-month undercover investigation in 1998 by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV).〔("Witness the Cutting Edge of British Medical Research" ), British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, retrieved 7 October 2006.〕 The experiments were being conducted on marmosets, and included the removal of parts of their brains intended to simulate the symptoms of stroke or Parkinson's disease.〔Bird, Maryann. (Animal Passions ), ''Time'' magazine, 7 December 2003.〕 Some of the research was theoretical, aimed at advancing knowledge of the brain, while some of it was applied.〔 BUAV said the investigation revealed examples of animal abuse indicating that animals were inadequately protected by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. After a review by the government's chief inspector of animals ruled against BUAV's argument that the project licences should not have been granted, BUAV applied to the High Court for a judicial review.〔("Animal group's court review win" ), BBC News, 12 April 2005.〕 The review ruled against BUAV on three of the four grounds, but on the remaining ground it found the Home Office had underestimated the suffering of the marmosets by categorising the experiments as "moderate," rather than "substantial." The Home Office announced a review of its procedures for categorising animal suffering.〔James Randerson, (Government downplayed animal suffering in experiments ), ''The Guardian'', 28 July 2007.〕 ==Nature of the research== As of October 2002, Cambridge University had three project licences, issued by the Home Office under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, permitting the controlled use of one New World non-human primate species, the common marmoset, ''Callithrix jacchus''. The licence authorised the use of animals bred specifically for research use at breeding establishments in the UK in experiments to study brain function in relation to human disorders. According to the chief inspector of animals, the experimental protocols involved "the training and testing of animals using a range of behavioural and cognitive tasks; then disrupting normal brain function by chemical or physical lesions; the subsequent administration of experimental treatments intended to minimise the functional defects or repair the damage caused; and further testing to evaluate brain function." The animals were killed at the end of the experiments, most of them for tissue analysis.〔, , review by the British government's chief inspector of animals, p. 13.〕 Scientists using marmosets at Cambridge have published their work in peer reviewed journals. This includes discoveries relating to the role of the prefrontal cortex in behaviour, understanding learning and memory, modelling Parkinson's disease, and the role of the amygdala in conditioned reinforcement. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cambridge University primates」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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