Experimentation at the UC Davis / CPRC
Many different types of experimentation are performed
at UC Davis/CPRC. It would be impossible to discuss all of these
varieties of projects. Therefore this report will focus on the area of
neurobiology. Specifically, the studies discussed have been categorized
by utilizing the NIH CRISP system. These 10 studies performed at UC
Davis (See Appendix A)
The basic procedures, or parts of these procedures,
are common to many of the experiments performed at UC Davis in the area
of neurobiology. The scientists performing the experiments describe them
best:
The general methods are similar to those used in
previous studies and will be described only briefly. Before recording,
each monkey was equipped with a head post for restraint, a scleral
search coil to monitor eye position, and a recording cylinder implanted
over the occipital cortex to allow microelectrode access to area MT from
a posterior direction, 20° above horizontal in a parasagittal plane.
This equipment was secured to the skull using a dental acrylic implant,
and this procedure was performed under deep surgical anesthesia. The
monkeys were given at least 2 wk to recover from surgery before
recording. For recording experiments, the monkeys were removed from
their home cages and seated in a primate chair in front of the cathode
ray tube (CRT) screen on which the stimuli were displayed. They were
required to fixate within 0.75-1.2° of a small spot projected on the
screen; no discrimination was required. Successfully completed fixation
trials were rewarded with a drop of water or juice; broken fixations
were followed by a brief time-out period. -- Kenneth H. Britten and
William T. Newsome The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 80 No. 2 August
1998, pp. 762-770
While this description may not allow the layman to
picture this experimentation the photos should provide a technically
accurate representation of these protocols.
These photos are not from the UC Davis. However, if
they are examined and compared to the description of the protocol from
the labs of UC Davis, it is clear that they accurately represent
research at Davis. These are macaque monkeys, confined in primate
restraint chairs. Bars for further restraint are attached to the skulls
of these monkeys, and recording cylinders are attached to the skulls as
well.
It is clear to even the casual observer that these
animals must experience substantial pain/distress during this
experimentation. Confinement to a restraint chair must be stressful for
the macaque monkeys used in this category of experiments. Additionally,
according to a research protocol obtained from UC Davis through the
public records act of California, these animals are also deprived of
water for substantial periods of the day. This document also states that
these animals are singly housed. Social isolation is substantially
stressful to primates, causing 10% of individually housed animals to
begin to engage in self injurious behavior. These monkeys are also
subjected to multiple survival surgeries as well as behavior
modification techniques.
And again, despite confining these animals to
restraint chairs, bolting devices to their skulls, depriving them of
water, and socially isolating these macaque monkeys according to
officials at UC Davis these monkeys experienced no pain or distress.
