Animal Laboratory

The animal laboratory is a core facility for animal research at the CIMH. Laboratory animals are bred and cared for here. Animal welfare and careful handling of the animals are very important for us. Our researchers are aware of the ethical dimension and take their responsibility very seriously.

Animal research is an essential basis of identifying neurobiological mechanisms to better understand mental health problems and develop new drug therapies. In fact, in recent years, many new psychotropic drugs that are used clinically today for various mental disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia, were developed with the help of animal experiments.

According to the present expertise, it is not possible to completely replace animal testing in the field of biological psychiatry with alternative methods. However, in vitro (in the culture dish) and in silico approaches (computer simulations) have developed greatly in recent years and have led to a significant reduction in the number of experimental animals used. Researchers at the CIMH have contributed significantly to this positive development through their work.

Our animal research projects serve basic and translational research and contribute to the prevention, recognition and treatment of mental disorders. Primarily, we conduct learning and behavioural studies. Researchers try to understand how the brain works and how diseases affect it. The biology and the development of a neurological disorder in humans, mice and rats are similar. Some of the insights gained lead directly to clinical studies or new forms of treatment, e.g. in the therapy of severe depressive episodes. Other mental disorders the researchers are working on include anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, dementia and addiction.

Genetically and hygienically defined rats and mice are bred and kept in our animal laboratory. National and international guidelines, laws and husbandry standards are strictly observed and implemented. The animal laboratory and our animal research projects are subject to permanent control by the licensing and supervisory authorities (Regional Council of Karlsruhe, City of Mannheim). All animal research projects at the CIMH are thoroughly reviewed with regard to ethical and scientific justifiability as well as considerations regarding the 3Rs principle before they are submitted to the Regional Council of Karlsruhe.

The CIMH strives to keep the number of experiments on animals and the stress within the framework of the experiments as low as possible. Therefore, we apply the internationally recognized 3R principle: Replace – replace animal experiments with alternative methods if possible, Reduce – reduce the number of animals used in experiments, Refine – minimize the stress on animals in experiments.

We manage the 3R Center Rhine-Neckar, founded in 2021. Its goal is to further advance the commitment to animal welfare in research according to the 3R principle. The partners involved are the CIMH, the Mannheim University Medical Center and the University of Heidelberg. Together we are intensifying networking in order to further reduce the number of animal experiments and to reduce the stress on laboratory animals as much as possible through optimized methods and measurement procedures. The 3R Center Rhine-Neckar is funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg.

Read more about the 3R Center

In addition, the CIMH is represented with a project in the research consortium for Severity Assessment in Animal-Based Research (FOR 2591). Here, the stress on animals is recorded and evaluated in order to identify those methods that are least stressful for animals and should replace other methods in the future.

Institutions from Germany and Switzerland are part of the research unit FOR 2591. The researchers aim at the identification of objective, classifiable and standardized severity assessment parameters in animal research that scientists, authorities and experts can use in the future. The research group is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Read more about the research unit FOR 2591