Euthanasia in Experimental Animals

Definition & scope

• Definition — Euthanasia (Greek eu = good + thanatos = death; "good/easy death") in experimental pharmacology is the humane killing (sacrifice) of an animal that produces rapid unconsciousness and subsequent death with minimal or no pain or distress.
• Why it is needed — assessing drug activity often requires harvesting an organ (brain, kidney, lung, liver), blood (plasma/serum) or body fluid (CSF, urine) at the experimental endpoint; the animal must be sacrificed to obtain the sample, and animal-care guidelines mandate this be done by euthanasia.
• Three related events — distinguish anaesthesia (reversible loss of sensation during a procedure), euthanasia / terminal sacrifice (irreversible humane killing at the planned endpoint), and humane (early) killing (euthanasia before the planned endpoint when a humane endpoint is reached).
• AVMA framing — the AVMA defines euthanasia as a death with minimal pain, distress and anxiety — ideally rapid loss of consciousness followed by cardiac/respiratory arrest and loss of brain function. [AVMA]
• Regulator note — the Indian regulator long named CPCSEA (Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals) was renamed CCSEA (Committee for Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals) by order of 06 Jan 2023 — same statutory body under the PCA Act 1960; textbooks still use "CPCSEA". [CCSEA 2023]