ObjectiveUsing SYRCLE tool (the SYstematic Review Centre for Laboratory animal Experimentation) to evaluate the risk of bias of animal studies in stroke field published in Chinese journals, identify problems of these studies in design, implementation and measurement, in order to provide references for improving the quality of animal studies in China. MethodsWe searched databases including CBM, VIP, CNKI and WanFang Data from inception to December 31st, 2014. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included animal studies using SYRCLE tool developed by the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research. ResultsA total of 582 studies were included. The assessment results showed that the number of reported items with "Low Risk" in SYRCLE, which have 22 items, reported in >50% of the 4 items and in <30% the 16 items in articles of animals experiments. More than 99% of the studies fulfilled the 3 items and more than 17% of the articles to meet the 10 items while less than 1% of the documents met the 17 items. The quality of studies increased excepted the period of 2010 to 2014. The methodological quality of animal experiments presented a trend of increasing and no significant differences were found in CSCD indexed or not. ConclusionThe methodological quality of animal experiments of stroke is poor in China in terms of the selection bias, implementation bias, measurement bias, withdraw bias and reporting bias.
ObjectiveTo assess the endorsement of the ARRIVE guideline and the Gold Standard Publication Checklist (GSPC) by Chinese journals in animal experiments field and its incorporation into their editorial processes. MethodsChinese journals indexed by SCI, MEDLINE, CSCD or CSTPCD were included. The latest'instruction for authors' (IFA) of each included journals was downloaded and any text mentioning the ARRIVE guideline and GSPC was extracted. Subsequently, a self-designed questionnaire was used to investigate the editor of each included journals. The investigation contents mainly included the basic information of the respondents, the awareness situation on the ARRIVE guideline, GSPC and their incorporation into editorial and peer review processes. Results240 journals in animal experiments field from China were examined. A total of 240 questionnaires were issued, of which, 198 questionnaires were effective (response rate 82.5%). The results showed that all IFAs didn't mention the ARRIVE guideline or GSPC and the awareness rate on the ARRIVE guideline and GSPC in editors of Chinese journals was only 13.1%. Only 10.1% of the editors reported that they required authors to comply with the ARRIVE guideline and GSPC. And editors reported that they incorporated the two guidelines into their peer review (7.1%) and editorial processes (8.1%). ConclusionAt present, all Chinese journals'IFAs didn't mention the ARRIVE guideline or GSPC. The majority of editors surveyed are not familiar with the content of the ARRIVE guideline and GSPC. And it needs to take purposeful measures to promote and popularize them in order to improve the quality of animal experiment reports.
Objective To systematically review the effectiveness and model building process of heparin treatment for animal model with smoke inhalation injury. Methods Databases including PubMed, EMbase, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were searched to collect animal experiments about the treatment of heparin for animal model with smoke inhalation injury from inception to November 2016. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then meta-analysis was conducted by RevMan 5.3 software. Results A total of nine studies involving 11 animal experiments were included. The results showed that building animal model with smoke inhalation injury were through burning of cotton towels or pine sawdust by sheep or rats below 40℃. The results of meta-analysis showed that there was no significant difference in mortality rate between two groups (heparin group vs. control group: RR=0.38, 95%CI 0.14 to 1.05, P=0.06; heparin plus DMSO group vs. DMSO group: RR=0.10, 95%CI 0.01 to 1.51, P=0.10). In addition, the pulmonary artery pressure (MD=–3.31, 95%CI –4.51 to –2.11, P<0.000 01), wet to dry weight ratio (MD=–0.90, 95%CI –1.19 to –0.61, P<0.000 01), and lung water content (MD=–1.18, 95%CI –1.67 to –0.70, P<0.000 01) of the experimental group were lower than those in the control group. PaO2/FiO2 after 12 hours (MD=131.00, 95%CI 59.54 to 202.46, P=0.000 3), PaO2/FiO2 after 24 hours (MD=114.00, 95%CI 60.56 to 167.44, P<0.000 1), PaO2/FiO2 after 48 hours (MD=46.00, 95%CI 20.62 to 71.38, P=0.000 4) were higher than those in the control group. However, there was no significant difference in coagulation function between both groups. Conclusion The current evidence shows that the establishment of animal model of smoke inhalation injury is still lack of standard method. Heparin can decrease pulmonary artery pressure and lung water content in animal models with smoke inhalation injury. Due to the limited quality and quantity of included studies, the above conclusions are still needed to be verified by more high quality studies.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the methodological quality of animal experiments published in high impact journals, in order to provide references for improving the quality of animal experiments.MethodsCSCD and Web of Science databases were electronically searched to collect intervening primordial animal experiments from 2014 to August, 2016. Four reviewers independently screened literatures, extracted data and assessed the methodological quality of included studies by using SYRCLE tool.ResultsA total of 1 999 animal experiments were included. The cited frequency of more than 90% studies were ≤5 times, and of which 52.53% studies were zero. The results of SYRCLE evaluation showed that 54.55% of sub items rated as "low risk" were less than 30%. And 84.62% of them were less than 10%.ConclusionThere are defeet in methodological quality of animal experiments either domestic or abroad. The problems of domestic researches in implementation bias, measurement bias and loss of access bias are particularly obvious. The coincidence rates of "low risk" are much lower than those of abroad studies. Therefore, we suggest that it is necessary to take specific measures to popularize SYRCLE tool to effectively guide the development of animal experiments and improve the design and implementation of animal experiments.
ObjectivesUsing the ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research Reporting: In Vivo Experiments Guidelines) to carry out a retrospective study of the reporting quality of animal studies published in Chinese journals.MethodsWe searched databases including CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP and CBM to July, 2018. Four reviewers independently screened literatures and extracted data. The ARRIVE guidelines were used to assess reporting quality and the comparative analysis based on different published time.ResultsA total of 4 342 studies were included. About the cited frequency, 73.03% studies were ≤5, and merely 29.04% studies were published in journals of CSCD. The assessment results showed that the number of reported items with "low risk" in the ARRIVE guidelines, which have 20 items, that meaning 39 sub items, more than half of sub items (51.28%, 20/39) rated as "low risk" had a compliance rate of less than 50%. Among them, 65.00% (13/20) of sub items had a lower rate of compliance with "low risk" than 10%.ConclusionThe reporting quality of domestic animal studies is generally low. The coincidence rate of domestic animal studies has been improved to some extent in most of items after the ARRIVE guidelines published, however, some items of methodology, results and conclusions had problems with insufficient reporting. Therefore, we suggest that it is necessary to popularize the ARRIVE guidelines, advocate more researchers following the ARRIVE guidelines and promote endorsement of the ARRIVE Guideline by Chinese Journals to improve the design, implementation and reporting of animal experiments, and ultimately enhance the quality of animal studies.
Based on the PRISMA 2009 checklist, the study analyzed current status and reporting quality of systematic reviews of animal experiments, and consulted experts in relevant fields to form an initial entry pool of reporting checklists for systematic reviews of animal experiments in traditional Chinese medicine (PRISMA-ATCM). Then, the initial entry pool was improved through 2 rounds of Delphi expert consultation. Finally, the items were revised through the consensus meeting, and the final PRISMA-ATCM was formed. Of the 27 items on the PRISMA checklist, 12 were revised and expanded, specifically relating to TCM interventions and animal characteristics. The publication of the PRISMA-ATCM will improve the transparency and standardization of systematic reviews of animal experiments in Chinese medicine.
Objective To investigate the effect of Nodal protein on retinal neovascularization under hypoxia. MethodsIn vivo animal experiment: 48 healthy C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into normal group, oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) group, OIR+dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) group and OIR+SB431542 group, with 12 mice in each group. Retinal neovascularization was observed in mice at 17 days of age by retina flat mount. Counts exceeded the number of vascular endothelial nuclei in the retinal inner boundary membrane (ILM) by hematoxylin eosin staining. In vivo cell experiment: human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (hRMEC) were divided into normal group, hypoxia group, hypoxia+DMSO group and hypoxia +SB431542 group. The cell proliferation was detected by thiazolyl blue colorimetry (MTT). The effect of SB431542 on hRMEC lumen formation was detected by Matrigel three-dimensional in vitro molding method. Cell migration in hRMEC was detected by cell scratch assay. The Seahorse XFe96 Cell Energy Metabolism analyzer measured extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) of intracellular glycolysis, glycolysis reserve, and glycolysis capacity. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare groups. ResultsIn vivo animal experiment: compared with normal group, the neovascularization increased in OIR group (t=41.621, P＜0.001). Compared with OIR group, the number of vascular endothelial nuclei breaking through ILM in OIR+SB431542 group was significantly reduced, and the difference was statistically significant (F=36.183, P＜0.001). MTT test results showed that compared with normal group and hypoxia+SB431542 group, the cell proliferation of hypoxia group and hypoxia+DMSO group was significantly increased, and the difference was statistically significant (F=39.316, P＜0.01). The cell proliferation of hypoxia+SB431542 group was significantly lower than that of hypoxia+DMSO group, and the difference was statistically significant (t=26.182, P＜0.001). The number of intact lumen formation and migration cells in normal group, hypoxia group, hypoxia+DMSO group and hypoxia+SB431542 group were statistically significant (F=34.513, 41.862; P＜0.001, ＜0.01). Compared with the hypoxia+DMSO group, the number of intact lumen formation and migrating cells in the hypoxia+SB431542 group decreased significantly, and the differences were statistically significant (t=44.723, 31.178; P＜0.001, ＜0.01). The results of cell energy metabolism showed that compared with the hypoxia +DMSO group, the ECAR of intracellular glycolysis and glycolysis reserve in the hypoxia +SB431542 group was decreased, and the ECAR of glycolysis capacity was increased, with statistical significance (t=26.175, 33.623, 37.276; P＜0.05). ConclusionSB431542 can inhibit the proliferation, migration and the ability to form lumens, reduce the level of glycolysis of hRMECs cells induced by hypoxia.