IACUC Category Descriptions and Examples

Category 1

Teaching exercises or experiments which are expected to cause only minimal discomfort or none.

     Examples: injections, blood sampling, tube feeding, behavioral experiment without significant restraint, etc.

Category 2

Teaching exercises or experiments carried out on anesthetized animals which do not recover consciousness prior to euthanasia

     Examples: instructional dissections, blood pressure measurements, removal of organs for histological or biochemical purposes, transplant studies, etc.

Category 3

Teaching exercises or experiments with painful stimulation of awake animals which cause momentary light pain.

Surgery from which the animal will awaken or experience the cessation of analgesia.

     Examples:  behavioral experiments with flight or avoidance reactions, use of Freund's adjuvant, etc. Biopsies, implantation of chronic devices, gonadectomy, central nervous system lesions, any surgery from which the animal survives

Category 4

Teaching exercises or experiments on awake animals of whom some can be expected to become seriously ill or be caused significant pain or distress.

     Examples:  toxicity testing, production of radiation sickness, infections or tumors causing clinical illness, ascities induction, nutrient restriction, stress or shock experiments, major organ transplant, multiple surgical procedures, etc.

Category 5

Teaching exercises or experiments involving painful experiments on unanesthetized animals, with or without the use of paralyzing agents.

     Examples: certain physiological and pharmacological experiments on the nervous system, research on pain or analgesics, wound healing, etc.

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