Reproducibility and replicability of rodent phenotyping in preclinical studies.
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 2018-04-01; 87: 218-232
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.01.003
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1. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2018 Apr;87:218-232. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.01.003.
Epub 2018 Jan 31.
Reproducibility and replicability of rodent phenotyping in preclinical studies.
Kafkafi N(1), Agassi J(2), Chesler EJ(3), Crabbe JC(4), Crusio WE(5), Eilam D(2),
Gerlai R(6), Golani I(2), Gomez-Marin A(7), Heller R(2), Iraqi F(2), Jaljuli
I(2), Karp NA(8), Morgan H(9), Nicholson G(10), Pfaff DW(11), Richter SH(12),
Stark PB(13), Stiedl O(14), Stodden V(15), Tarantino LM(16), Tucci V(17), Valdar
W(16), Williams RW(18), Würbel H(19), Benjamini Y(2).
Author information:
(1)Tel Aviv University, Israel. Electronic address: .
(2)Tel Aviv University, Israel.
(3)The Jackson Laboratory, United States.
(4)Oregon Health & Science University, and VA Portland Health Care System, United
States.
(5)INCIA, Université de Bordeaux and CNRS, France.
(6)University of Toronto, Canada.
(7)Instituto de Neurociencias CSIC-UMH, Alicante, Spain.
(8)Discovery Sciences, IMED Biotech Unit, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK.
(9)Harwell Research Center, UK.
(10)University of Oxford, UK.
(11)Rockefeller University, United States.
(12)University of Müenster, Germany.
(13)University of California, Berkeley, United States.
(14)VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands.
(15)University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States.
(16)University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States.
(17)Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy.
(18)University of Tennessee Health Science Center, United States.
(19)University of Bern, Switzerland.
The scientific community is increasingly concerned with the proportion of
published “discoveries” that are not replicated in subsequent studies. The field
of rodent behavioral phenotyping was one of the first to raise this concern, and
to relate it to other methodological issues: the complex interaction between
genotype and environment; the definitions of behavioral constructs; and the use
of laboratory mice and rats as model species for investigating human health and
disease mechanisms. In January 2015, researchers from various disciplines
gathered at Tel Aviv University to discuss these issues. The general consensus
was that the issue is prevalent and of concern, and should be addressed at the
statistical, methodological and policy levels, but is not so severe as to call
into question the validity and the usefulness of model organisms as a whole.
Well-organized community efforts, coupled with improved data and metadata
sharing, have a key role in identifying specific problems and promoting effective
solutions. Replicability is closely related to validity, may affect
generalizability and translation of findings, and has important ethical
implications.
Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.01.003
PMCID: PMC6071910
PMID: 29357292