Prime Highlights
- UK scientists found that tiny pond flatworms (planaria) react to psychiatric drugs in ways similar to mammals, offering a potential alternative to mice and rats in brain research.
- The discovery could help develop new treatments for mental health conditions like schizophrenia and addiction while reducing the need for animal testing.
Key Highlights
- In 2023, researchers in the UK used about 882,000 mice and 144,060 rats in experiments, showing the scale of reliance on animal testing.
- Previous studies showed that planaria can display signs of addiction and withdrawal, making them useful for studying epilepsy and drug dependence.
Key Background:
UK scientists have found that tiny pond flatworms could change the way researchers study the brain and develop new treatments for mental health conditions. The planaria are only a few millimetres in length, but respond in remarkably similar ways to mammals regarding psychiatric medications, and they are therefore the perfect substitute in a laboratory experiment.
Researchers published their findings in Pharmaceutical Research. They tested the worms with haloperidol, an antipsychotic drug widely prescribed for schizophrenia. The flatworms became sluggish and inactive after exposure, which mirrors the response observed in rodents.
Professor Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy of the University of Reading, a co-author of the study, said that using planaria could greatly reduce the number of animals in research while still helping scientists find better treatments for serious mental health conditions.
Scientists have relied heavily on rodents for brain research over the past four decades. In 2023, researchers in the UK carried out experiments on around 882,000 mice and 144,060 rats. The researchers believe that switching to planaria could significantly reduce these numbers without slowing progress in neuroscience.
This is not the first time planaria have supported medical studies. Previous research revealed that the worms display primitive forms of addictive behavior, withdrawal, or addiction, which assisted researchers in the field of drug dependence and epilepsy. The latest research builds on that evidence and strengthens the case for using these organisms more widely.
Many countries are looking for more humane alternatives, but animal testing is still widely used to develop new brain drugs. The study suggests that planaria could provide a useful option that supports animal welfare while still giving reliable results. Khutoryanskiy noted that the approach benefits both scientific progress and animal welfare.
The work reveals how tiny worms, of which little attention is given in nature, can accelerate mental health research. Researchers are hopeful that working with planaria in a laboratory will result in new solutions and treatments to chemotherapy, as well as help in reducing animal experiments.
