Cruelty-free testing for insulin

Scientists and physicians with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) have outlined a method used to develop a cruelty-free ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay) for human insulin that uses monoclonal antibodies produced by cells cultured in an animal-serum-free medium.

PCRM claims insulin ELISA provides precision and reliability equal to methods currently used in clinical research. It also serves as a guide for the development of serum-free immunoassays for other hormones and bio-markers.

The ELISA is a method of detecting specific proteins in complex protein mixtures " in this case, for detecting insulin in human blood.

Laboratories traditionally detect human insulin using antibodies produced by cells that had been placed into the abdomens of living mice. The procedure, called the ascites method, is so cruel that it is banned in some European countries.

Even when the antibodies are produced from cells in test tubes, fetal bovine serum is commonly used to grow live cells. The serum is obtained from bovine fetuses by puncturing their hearts with a needle without the use of anesthesia.

PCRM's insulin ELISA does not rely on the ascites method or fetal bovine serum. In addition to ethical advantages, growing cells without animal serum ensures that fewer variables are introduced into experiments, meaning that results are easily reproducible by different laboratories.

The method permits the growth of antibody-producing cells in a medium free of animal serum, enabling scientists to make cell culture safer and more humane.