Severity assessment and refinement in animal models of kidney ischemia–reperfusion injury, liver resection, and liver transplantation in rats and pigs

• Applicant: Dr. Lisa Ernst
• Subject Area: General and Visceral Surgery ; Veterinary Medical Science
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 321137804

In the third funding period the project aims at fine-tuning objective and automatable procedures for detection of severity and measurable refinement approaches on surgical animal models. The focus is on utilizing existing datasets and clustering methods to ensure generalizability and robustness of parameters and combinations in- and outside of the FOR consortium. The establishment and evaluation of non-contact monitoring methods, individual risk assessment, and automation techniques are key questions which are to be addressed. To achieve these goals the projects third funding period consists of five distinct work packages (WP): WP1 focuses on evaluating severity across species and models, assessing the transferability and robustness of severity assessment parameters in multicentre approaches, and exploring the translational potential of the kidney transplantation model in humans. WP2 aims to develop a robust contactless monitoring system for standardized monitoring in pigs which was introduced as a proof of concept during the second funding period. WP3 involves a multicentre evaluation of inter-rater variability and robustness in Grime Scale rating, including comparison of behavior and grimace scale parameters for home cage monitoring. WP4 focuses on identifying predictive model-dependent variables through functional correlation analysis and usage of AI algorithms, specifically training pathomics for deep learning analysis of histological data. Lastly, in WP5, a systematic review is conducted to evaluate the robustness and reliability of the previous generated data with the literature. This review specifically focuses on a sheep fracture model and its perioperative fixation methods, with a strong emphasis on animal welfare and the continuous improvement of refinement practices. The investigations have access to a comprehensive set of data generated during the first and second funding periods. This includes a variety of datasets such as recordings of burrowing, housing conditions, telemetry, Open Field experiments, grimace scale assessments, computed tomography (CT) scans, radiographs, and histology sections generated in rodent and large animal (Porcine, sheep) species.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 2591: Severity assessment in animal-based research