Environmental standardization: cure or cause of poor reproducibility in animal experiments?
Environmental standardization: cure or cause of poor reproducibility in animal experiments?
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DOI：
10.1038/nmeth.1312
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发表时间：
2009-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
48
通讯作者：
Wuerbel, Hanno
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Richter, S. Helene;Garner, Joseph P.;Wuerbel, Hanno
人们普遍认为，环境标准化是保证动物实验结果可重复性的最佳途径。然而，越来越多的证据表明，即使是实验室或测试条件的细微差异也可能导致相互矛盾的测试结果。由于实验治疗可能与环境条件相互作用，在高度标准化的条件下进行的实验可能会揭示局部的“真理”，而外部有效性很小。我们在这里回顾这一假设，并提出了一个原则的基础上，从多实验室研究的数据证明近交系小鼠品系之间的行为差异。我们的研究结果表明，环境标准化是一个原因，而不是治愈，实验结果的重现性差。环境标准化可能会导致文献中的虚假和相互矛盾的结果以及不必要的动物使用。这一结论要求研究系统的环境异质化的可行和有效的方法，以减轻这些科学，经济和道德成本。
It is widely believed that environmental standardization is the best way to guarantee reproducible results in animal experiments. However, mounting evidence indicates that even subtle differences in laboratory or test conditions can lead to conflicting test outcomes. Because experimental treatments may interact with environmental conditions, experiments conducted under highly standardized conditions may reveal local 'truths' with little external validity. We review this hypothesis here and present a proof of principle based on data from a multilaboratory study on behavioral differences between inbred mouse strains. Our findings suggest that environmental standardization is a cause of, rather than a cure for, poor reproducibility of experimental outcomes. Environmental standardization can contribute to spurious and conflicting findings in the literature and unnecessary animal use. This conclusion calls for research into practicable and effective ways of systematic environmental heterogenization to attenuate these scientific, economic and ethical costs.