Animal research has always been crucial for various medical and scientific breakthroughs, providing information on disease mechanisms, genetic predisposition to diseases, and pharmacological treatment. However, the use of animals in medical research is a source of great controversy and ongoing debate in modern science. To ensure a high level of bioethics, new guidelines have been adopted by the EU, implementing the 3R principles to replace animal testing wherever possible, reduce the number of animals per experiment, and refine procedures to minimize stress and pain. Supporting these guidelines, this article proposes an improved approach for unobtrusive, continuous, and automated monitoring of the respiratory rate of laboratory rats. It uses the cyclical expansion and contraction of the rats’ thorax/abdominal region to determine this physiological parameter. In contrast to previous work, the focus is on unconstrained animals, which requires the algorithms to be especially robust to motion artifacts. To test the feasibility of the proposed approach, video material of multiple rats was recorded and evaluated. High agreement was obtained between RGB imaging and the reference method (respiratory rate derived from electrocardiography), which was reflected in a relative error of 5.46%. The current work shows that camera-based technologies are promising and relevant alternatives for monitoring the respiratory rate of unconstrained rats, contributing to the development of new alternatives for a continuous and objective assessment of animal welfare, and hereby guiding the way to modern and bioethical research.

Ischemia-reperfusion injury remains a fundamental problem during organ transplantation logistics. One key technical factor is the rapid allograft rewarming during the time of vascular reconstruction in the recipient. In this pilot study, a new thermal insulation bag (TIB) for organ transplantation was used. Insulation capacity, tissue compatibility, and usability were tested initially ex vivo on porcine kidneys (n = 24) followed by the first in vivo usage. Fourteen female German landrace pigs underwent kidney auto-transplantation after 24 h cold storage (4 °C). During the implantation process the kidney was either insulated with the new TIB, or it was not thermo-protected at all, which represents the clinical standard. In this proof-of-concept study, the usability (knife-to-skin-time) and the general thermal capacity (30 min warm storage at 38 °C ex vivo p < 0.001) was shown. The clinical outcome showed significant differences in the determination of CRP and pi-GST levels. Syndecan-1 Antibody staining showed clear significant higher counts in the control group (p < 0.01) indicating epithelial damage. However, the effect on renal outcomes in not severely pre-damaged kidneys does not appear to be conclusively significant. A close follow-up study is warranted, especially in the context of marginal organs or in cases where anastomosis-times are prolonged due to surgical complexity (e.g., multiple vessels and complex reconstructions).

The validation of methods for understanding the effects of many diseases and treatments requires the use of animal models in translational research. In this context, sheep have been employed extensively in scientific studies. However, the imposition of experimental conditions upon these animals may result in the experience of discomfort, pain, and stress. The ethical debates surrounding the use of animals in research have resulted in the adoption of Directive 2010/63/EU. The present study proposes a non-contact method for monitoring the respiration rate of sheep based on video processing. The Detecron2 model was trained to segment the sheep’s body, abdominal, and facial regions in the video frames. A motion-tracking algorithm was developed to assess abdominal movement associated with the sheep’s respiratory cycle. The method was applied to videos of Rhön sheep under experimental and housing conditions, utilising two types of cameras to assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The mean average error (MAE) obtained was 0.79 breaths/minute for the visible and 1.83 breaths/minute for the near-infrared (NIR) method. This study demonstrates the feasibility of video technology for simultaneous and non-invasive respiration monitoring, being a crucial parameter for assessing the health deterioration of multiple laboratory animals.

Animal research has always been crucial for various medical and scientific breakthroughs, providing information on disease mechanisms, genetic predisposition to diseases, and pharmacological treatment. However, the use of animals in medical research is a source of great controversy and ongoing debate in modern science. To ensure a high level of bioethics, new guidelines have been adopted to replace animal testing wherever possible, reduce the number of animals per experiment, and refine procedures to minimize stress and pain. Supporting these guidelines, this article proposes a novel approach for unobtrusive, continuous, and automated monitoring of the respiratory rate of laboratory rats. It uses the cyclical expansion and contraction of the rats’ thorax/abdominal region to determine this physiological parameter. In contrast to previous work, the focus is on unconstrained animals, which requires the algorithms to be especially robust to motion artifacts. To test the feasibility of the proposed approach, video material of multiple rats was recorded and evaluated. High agreement was obtained between RGB-imaging and the reference method (respiratory rate derived from electrocardiography), which was reflected in a relative error of 5.46%. The current work shows that camera-based technologies are promising and relevant alternatives for monitoring the respiratory rate of unconstrained rats, contributing to the development of new alternatives for continuous and objective assessment of animal welfare and hereby guiding the way to modern and bioethical research.