Before a drug hits the market, it is imperative that it goes through preclinical trials, including screening on animals, to understand dosages and toxicity. First, the disease in question needs to be induced in the animal. After this, the experimental methods of treatment can be tested. Located behind FD-III, BITS Pilani’s Central Animal Facility (CAF) houses 2500 rats, 1500 mice, and 30 rabbits for research into various diseases and cures.
The Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) monitors the CAF at BITS Pilani. It is a university-specific body under the jurisdiction of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) which ratifies the design of the study and allows the proposed methodologies. At present, there are 78 protocols approved by the IAEC-BITS Pilani.
A typical room in the CAF has shelves with boxes filled with mice, rabbits, and rats. Many different breeds of rats are hosted, such as Swiss Albino and Wistar. Each box has a grill on top which allows air circulation. Two inlets are present per box—one supplying drinking water and the other, a pellet feed. The bedding material inside each container is made up of granulated cobs of corn. Each box has a yellow tag attached to it, with the project code and basic details. The diseases under study include diabetes, osteoporosis, nephropathy, dermal diseases, hypertension, and neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, depression, and anxiety.
The CAF also houses biomedical equipment to analyse different kinds of animal behaviour and the effects of drugs on animal physiological systems. A few of these machines include—an organ bath system used for in vitro analysis of tissues, a Rotarod apparatus to monitor skeletal muscle activity, a Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RTPCR) machine used for genetic engineering, a Non-Invasive/Invasive Blood Pressure (NIBP/IBP) measuring system, and a plethysmometer which provides information about volume changes in the animal after the administration of a drug. There is also an animal tracking software that can observe and track more than 72 parameters, such as blinking, itching, and breeding behaviour. The software then presents the data for each parameter in a graphical format. The set-up is expensive, with multiple hidden cameras keeping track of the test subjects’ movements. Certain crucial projects involve microchips embedded in the animal, allowing observers to get the required information with just the press of a button.
The Elevated Plus Maze apparatus, used for studying anxiety, is an example of a typical apparatus used at the CAF. It has four arms arranged around a central platform in a plus shape and raised above the ground. Two opposite arms are enclosed with high walls while the other arms are exposed to light. A rodent suffering from anxiety will spend more time in the darker, closed section. Anxiety-inducing drugs decrease the proportion of open arm entries and anxiety-reducing drugs do the opposite.
There are two operation theatres (OTs) present in the CAF—one experimental and one clinical—with diseased animals being operated on in the clinical OT. PhD students are allowed access to the experimental OT but only the resident veterinary surgeon, Dr. Sushil Yadav, can operate in the clinical OT. When asked about the difference, Dr. Yadav explained, “If a person is about to conduct an experiment on diabetes and needs to remove the pancreas from an animal, (s)he should use the experimental OT. However, if there is a cancerous pancreas that needs to be removed from an animal, it should be operated upon in the clinical OT.”
The CAF has an Isolated Study Room to understand the effect of sound and light, especially in experiments concerning anxiety and depression. It also hosts a refrigerator that goes down to -80⁰C for prolonged storage of tissues or substances, a breeding room, and an incinerator to get rid of animal carcasses.
The whole architectural layout of the CAF has been made in accordance with the norms of the CPCSEA. According to Dr. Yadav, BITS Pilani’s CAF is the first private sector facility to get a breeding license. It has also been receiving excellent remarks from the ministry for the last ten years.