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news 3/4/12
Four research monkeys die in Parkinson?s experiment at UBC
By Andrew Bates</SPAN>
David Elop/The Ubyssey
Four research monkeys have died in a Parkinson?s disease research experiment at UBC, and an animal activist group is questioning whether the deaths were accidental.
The four macaques were euthanized after complications in the experiment which induced Parkinson?s symptoms by injecting a chemical called MPTP. The study was intended to analyze how the brain is affected as the disease progresses and help develop treatments. The experiment involved 18 macaques in total.
The complications were described by UBC neurology professor Doris Doudet as an ?unexpected adverse event? in the November issue of the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism. But STOP UBC Animal Research (STOP) activists claim the deaths were planned all along.
?It wasn?t an unforeseen adverse reaction,? said STOP spokesperson Anne Birthistle. ?They put?a very potent neurotoxin into the monkey?s brain to damage the monkey?s brain. It was intended all along to disable them severely.?
?This work was done with an approved protocol?over several years slowly collecting data towards this study,? said Helen Burt, UBC associate vice-president research. ?What normally happens is they start with a very small dose and it takes numerous doses over a long period of time for the animals to start showing the mild symptoms of Parkinson?s disease.?
In the case of the four macaques, they deteriorated so quickly that they needed to be euthanized immediately after scanning. Burt compared the ?idiosyncratic reaction? in the monkeys to allergic or unforeseen reactions in humans. ?It?s not always known why some people have an adverse reaction to a particular drug,? she said. ?These kind of things happen in humans, and this is exactly what happened in these animals.?
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Four research monkeys die in Parkinson?s experiment at UBC
By Andrew Bates</SPAN>
David Elop/The Ubyssey
Four research monkeys have died in a Parkinson?s disease research experiment at UBC, and an animal activist group is questioning whether the deaths were accidental.
The four macaques were euthanized after complications in the experiment which induced Parkinson?s symptoms by injecting a chemical called MPTP. The study was intended to analyze how the brain is affected as the disease progresses and help develop treatments. The experiment involved 18 macaques in total.
The complications were described by UBC neurology professor Doris Doudet as an ?unexpected adverse event? in the November issue of the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism. But STOP UBC Animal Research (STOP) activists claim the deaths were planned all along.
?It wasn?t an unforeseen adverse reaction,? said STOP spokesperson Anne Birthistle. ?They put?a very potent neurotoxin into the monkey?s brain to damage the monkey?s brain. It was intended all along to disable them severely.?
?This work was done with an approved protocol?over several years slowly collecting data towards this study,? said Helen Burt, UBC associate vice-president research. ?What normally happens is they start with a very small dose and it takes numerous doses over a long period of time for the animals to start showing the mild symptoms of Parkinson?s disease.?
In the case of the four macaques, they deteriorated so quickly that they needed to be euthanized immediately after scanning. Burt compared the ?idiosyncratic reaction? in the monkeys to allergic or unforeseen reactions in humans. ?It?s not always known why some people have an adverse reaction to a particular drug,? she said. ?These kind of things happen in humans, and this is exactly what happened in these animals.?
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