Euthanasia in Experimental Animals

Euthanasia in Experimental Animals

1. Definition & scope

• Euthanasia (Greek eu = good, thanatos = death; literally "good death" / "easy death") in the experimental-pharmacology setting is "the humane killing (sacrifice) of an animal which produces rapid unconsciousness and subsequent death without or with minimal pain or distress to the animal" (Medhi Ch.1, p.37).
• The need arises because assessing drug activity frequently requires harvesting an organ (brain, kidney, lung, liver), blood (plasma/serum) or body fluid (CSF, urine) at the experimental endpoint; the animal must therefore be sacrificed to obtain the said part of the body, and animal-care guidelines mandate that this be done by euthanasia (Medhi Ch.1, p.37).
• Distinguish three related events on the animal-experiment timeline (Medhi Ch.1, pp.36–39):
  • Anaesthesia — reversible loss of sensation/consciousness during a procedure (aims: analgesia, amnesia, immobilisation, while maintaining circulation, oxygenation and respiration).
  • Euthanasia / terminal sacrifice — irreversible humane killing at the planned endpoint.
  • Humane (early) killing on welfare grounds — euthanasia before the planned endpoint when a humane endpoint is reached (intractable pain/distress) — see §10.
• The AVMA frames euthanasia as a death that occurs with minimal pain, distress and anxiety, ideally with rapid loss of consciousness followed by cardiac/respiratory arrest and loss of brain function (AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2020 Edition) [AVMA].
• ⚠ Terminology/regulator note — the Indian regulator historically named CPCSEA (Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals) is the body cited throughout Medhi Ch.1; it has been reconstituted as CCSEA (Committee for Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals). Standard textbooks still use "CPCSEA"; both names refer to the same statutory animal-experimentation regulator under the PCA Act 1960. (See RECENT ADVANCES — RA 3 for the dated rename.)