Finnish animal welfare legislation (Government Decree 1165/2023) effective as of January 1, 2024, requires establishments to apply “appropriate pain relief” in association with ear notching identification method of laboratory rodents(1). However, there is a lack of scientific evidence whether the benefits of applying analgesia outweigh the additional stress related to handling and drug administration. Our study aimed to determine if acute pain potentially linked to ear notching increases self-grooming behavior of the affected body area and if topical application of lidocaine-prilocaine ointment has the potential to mitigate such pain.

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Ocular uveitis is a major cause of vision loss and often requires corticosteroid therapy to control inflammation. Intravitreal administration of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in rabbit eyes causes ocular inflammation in the anterior chamber, iris hyperemia, and vitreal haze. The purpose of this study was to compare the anti-inflammatory efficacy of intravitreal Ozurdex, systemic prednisolone, and topical dexamethasone.

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the level of neurodegeneration and visual functional degradation, as well as the protective effect of fingolimod in a mouse EAE model.

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Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness, highlighting the urgent need for reliable preclinical models that capture both structural and functional disease aspects. Our recently published study by Kernius Mickevičius provides a longitudinal evaluation of the rat magnetic microbead model of ocular hypertension by combining multimodal monitoring tools including spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), pattern electroretinography (pERG), optomotor testing, and morphological analysis.

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Our latest publication by Anni Tenhunen and colleagues on the welfare outcomes of two widely used rat lines, Brown Norway (BN/Crl) and Sprague Dawley (RjHan:SD), in the STZ-induced diabetic retinopathy model. BN/Crl rats are often favored for ocular studies due to their pigmented eyes, however, our study raises important concerns about their routine use in diabetic models, given their increased risk of serious welfare issues.

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