Editing Animal testing (section)

===Pure research===
Basic or pure research investigates how organisms behave, develop, and function. Those opposed to animal testing object that pure research may have little or no practical purpose, but researchers argue that it forms the necessary basis for the development of applied research, rendering the distinction between pure and applied research—research that has a specific practical aim—unclear.<ref name=Lords3>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200102/ldselect/ldanimal/150/15006.htm "Select Committee on Animals in Scientific Procedures Report"], House of Lords, 16 July 2002. See chapter 3: "The purpose and nature of animal experiments." Retrieved 6 July 2010.</ref> Pure research uses larger numbers and a greater variety of animals than applied research. Fruit flies, nematode worms, mice and rats together account for the vast majority, though small numbers of other species are used, ranging from [[California sea slug|sea slugs]] through to [[armadillo]]s.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal | author = Job CK | title = Nine-banded armadillo and leprosy research | journal = Indian Journal of Pathology & Microbiology | volume = 46 | issue = 4 | pages = 541–50 | year = 2003 | pmid = 15025339 }}</ref> Examples of the types of animals and experiments used in basic research include:
* Studies on ''[[embryogenesis]]'' and ''[[developmental biology]]''. Mutants are created by adding [[transposon]]s into their [[genome]]s, or specific genes are deleted by [[gene targeting]].<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Venken KJ, Bellen HJ | title = Emerging technologies for gene manipulation in Drosophila melanogaster | journal = Nature Reviews Genetics | volume = 6 | issue = 3 | pages = 167–78 | year = 2005 | pmid = 15738961 | doi = 10.1038/nrg1553 | s2cid = 21184903 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Sung YH, Song J, Lee HW | title = Functional genomics approach using mice | journal = Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | volume = 37 | issue = 1 | pages = 122–32 | year = 2004 | pmid = 14761310 | doi = 10.5483/BMBRep.2004.37.1.122 | doi-access = free }}</ref> By studying the changes in development these changes produce, scientists aim to understand both how organisms normally develop, and what can go wrong in this process. These studies are particularly powerful since the basic controls of development, such as the [[homeobox]] genes, have similar functions in organisms as diverse as fruit flies and man.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Janies D, DeSalle R | title = Development, evolution, and corroboration | journal = The Anatomical Record | volume = 257 | issue = 1 | pages = 6–14 | year = 1999 | pmid = 10333399 | doi = 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0185(19990215)257:1<6::AID-AR4>3.0.CO;2-I | s2cid = 23492348 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author = Akam M | title = Hox genes and the evolution of diverse body plans | journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B | volume = 349 | issue = 1329 | pages = 313–19 | year = 1995 | pmid = 8577843 | doi = 10.1098/rstb.1995.0119 | bibcode = 1995RSPTB.349..313A }}</ref>
* Experiments into ''behavior'', to understand how organisms detect and interact with each other and their environment, in which fruit flies, worms, mice, and rats are all widely used.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Prasad BC, Reed RR | title = Chemosensation: Molecular mechanisms in worms and mammals | journal = Trends in Genetics | volume = 15 | issue = 4 | pages = 150–53 | year = 1999 | pmid = 10203825 | doi = 10.1016/S0168-9525(99)01695-9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author = Schafer WR | title = Neurophysiological methods in C. elegans: an introduction | journal = WormBook | pages = 1–4 | year = 2006 | pmid = 18050439 | pmc = 4780964 | doi = 10.1895/wormbook.1.113.1 }}</ref> Studies of brain function, such as memory and social behavior, often use rats and birds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yamamuro |first1=Yutaka |title=Social behavior in laboratory rats: Applications for psycho-neuroethology studies |journal=Animal Science Journal |volume=77 |pages=386–94 |year=2006 |doi=10.1111/j.1740-0929.2006.00363.x |issue=4}}</ref><ref>Marler P., Slabbekoorn H, ''Nature's Music: The Science of Birdsong'', Academic Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0-12-473070-1}}{{page needed|date=December 2010}}</ref> For some species, behavioral research is combined with [[Behavioral enrichment|enrichment]] strategies for animals in captivity because it allows them to engage in a wider range of activities.<ref>For example "in addition to providing the chimpanzees with enrichment, the termite mound is also the focal point of a tool-use study being conducted", from the web page of the {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080701010656/http://lpzoo.com/info/media-center/index.html Lincoln Park Zoo]}}. Retrieved 25 April 2007.</ref>
* Breeding experiments to study ''[[evolution]]'' and ''[[genetics]]''. Laboratory mice, flies, fish, and worms are [[Inbreeding|inbred]] through many generations to create strains with defined characteristics.<ref>[[Michael Festing|Festing, M.]], ''[http://www.informatics.jax.org/external/festing/mouse/INTRO.shtml "Inbred Strains of Mice and their Characteristics"],'' ''[[The Jackson Laboratory]] ''. Retrieved 30 January 2008.</ref> These provide animals of a known genetic background, an important tool for genetic analyses. Larger mammals are rarely bred specifically for such studies due to their slow rate of reproduction, though some scientists take advantage of [[Selective breeding|inbred domesticated animals]], such as dog or cattle breeds, for [[Comparative genomics|comparative]] purposes. Scientists studying how animals evolve use many animal species to see how variations in where and how an organism lives (their [[ecological niche|niche]]) produce [[adaptation]]s in their physiology and [[Comparative anatomy|morphology]]. As an example, [[stickleback]]s are now being used to study how many and which types of mutations are selected to produce adaptations in animals' morphology during the evolution of new species.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Peichel CL | title = Fishing for the secrets of vertebrate evolution in threespine sticklebacks | journal = Developmental Dynamics | volume = 234 | issue = 4 | pages = 815–23 | year = 2005 | pmid = 16252286 | doi = 10.1002/dvdy.20564 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Peichel CL, Nereng KS, Ohgi KA, Cole BL, Colosimo PF, Buerkle CA, Schluter D, Kingsley DM | title = The genetic architecture of divergence between threespine stickleback species | journal = Nature | volume = 414 | issue = 6866 | pages = 901–05 | year = 2001 | pmid = 11780061 | doi = 10.1038/414901a | bibcode = 2001Natur.414..901P | s2cid = 4304296 | url = http://authors.fhcrc.org/42/1/Peichel_et_al_Nature_2001.pdf }}</ref>