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The 2024 Annual Report on Animal Experiments by Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht  provides, for the first time, insight into the so-called  in biomedical research within both organizations.

In the last decades, many new cell culture models have been developed, such as mini-organs (organoids) and organ-on-a-chip devices. These advanced models more accurately represent the human body, and are therefore promising alternatives to animal studies. However, these models are often not completely animal-free as many of them still rely on the use of animal-derived products such as foetal calf serum (FCS) and basement membrane extracts (BME, also known under the trade names Matrigel, Geltrex or Cultrex).

The animals required for the production of FCS and BME are generally not included in official statistics on the number of animals used for scientific purposes. Thereby, this type of animal use remains invisible.

FCS and BME used at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and UMC Utrecht

The 3Rs Centre Utrecht (3RCU) has inventorized the amounts of FCS and  BME used at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and UMC Utrecht between 2015 and 2023. On average, 795 litre of FCS and 9.8 litre of BME is used annually at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and UMC Utrecht, which corresponds to an associated animal use of approximately 1600 calves and 2000 mice per year.

You can read more about invisible animal use on the 3RCU website. To reduce invisible animal use, the 3RCU offers support to researchers through initiatives such as , and the Gels and Sera Working Group.