Animals Still Used in Motion Sickness Experiments
If you’ve ever suffered motion sickness, you know that it’s
a miserable feeling. Other animals are also vulnerable, and for
at least 50 years scientists have been subjecting monkeys, dogs,
cats, rats and other species to experiments designed to make them
ill. Here are some recent examples:
- At the University of Texas, female dogs had electric charges
delivered directly to their small intestines via implanted electrodes.
Depending on patterns of charges and drugs, dogs suffered different
degrees of vomiting and other motion sickness-like symptoms.1
- At the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, rats were rotated
1,350 times over 45 minutes to observe the effects of various
anti-emetic drugs on vomiting rates.2
- Experimenters at the University of Tokyo induced vomiting in
house musk shrews by injecting vasopressin either into the blood
stream or into the brain.3
- Scientists at Shimane University in Japan force-fed tree-frogs,
then subjected them to “parabolic flight.” Motion
sickness was measured as the presence of vomitus in a frog’s
cage.4
One can only wonder what utility these inhumane studies could possibly
have. Motion sickness is a subjective experience, and animals cannot
report it to us. The only clear objective measure is vomiting.
There are many ways to study motion sickness ethically, with human
volunteers. Here is a recent sample:
- At the University of Southampton, 20 human subjects rated motion
sickness during a 30-minute car journey under conditions of artificially
restricted view, restricted view due to seating position, and
a video view of the road ahead. Car motions were also measured
in three axes.5
- At the University of Arkansas, adults sat in a rotary chair
to simulate space motion sickness to assess the effectiveness
of four anti-nausea drugs with pre- or post-treatment.6
- University of Southampton researchers exposed 120 adults for
up to 30 minutes to sinusoidal lateral oscillation to study the
role of oscillation frequencies on motion sickness. Subjects provided
ratings of motion sickness at one-minute intervals.7
- At Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, motion sickness
was studied in 30 adults placed on a rotating platform with a
head-mounted display that could produce conflicting self-motion
cues.8
Studying motion sickness in humans avoids tenuous extrapolations
between species, and subjects can verbally express their symptoms
often and in great detail. Unlike animal subjects, people volunteer
to participate, and they may terminate exposure at any point. But
as we’ve seen before, decisions to fund, conduct, review,
and publish research don’t always follow a rational path.
Jonathan Balcombe, Ph.D., is a PCRM research consultant with background in ethology. He is the author of The Use of Animals in Higher Education, as well as many articles on humane life science education and scientific papers on animal behavior. He is the author of a recent scientific review showing that animal experiments are more stressful than previously understood.
References
1. Liu J, Wang L, Chen JD. Effects of intestinal electrical stimulation
on intestinal dysrhythmia and symptoms in dogs. Dig Dis Sci. 2004
May;49(5):720-8.
2. Gupta YK, Chaudhary G. Effect of antiemetic drugs on decrease
in gastric emptying in experimental model of motion sickness in
rats. Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2003 Apr;24(4):296-300.
3. Ikegaya Y, Matsuki N. Vasopressin induces emesis in Suncus murinus.
Jpn J Pharmacol. 2002 Jul;89(3):324-6.
4. Naitoh T, Wassersug RJ, Yamashita N. Factors influencing the
susceptibility of anurans to motion sickness. J Comp Physiol [A].
2001 Mar;187(2):105-13.
5. Griffin MJ, Newman MM. Visual field effects on motion sickness
in cars. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2004 Sep;75(9):739-48.
6. Dornhoffer J, Chelonis JJ, Blake D. Stimulation of the semicircular
canals via the rotary chair as a means to test pharmacologic countermeasures
for space motion sickness. Otol Neurotol. 2004 Sep;25(5):740-5.
7. Donohew BE, Griffin MJ. Motion sickness: effect of the frequency
of lateral oscillation. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2004 Aug;75(8):649-56.
8. Duh HB, Parker DE, Philips JO, Furness TA. "Conflicting"
motion cues to the visual and vestibular self-motion systems around
0.06 Hz evoke simulator sickness. Hum Factors. 2004 Spring;46(1):142-53.
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