Could Octopuses Become the Next “Lab Rat”?

By Daria Bednarczyk | January 11, 2024

As the common English saying goes, “just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” This declaration significantly ties into the topic of using animals for laboratory experimentation. In December 2021, scientists in the United States successfully introduced a “global first” – the first “cultured octopus laboratory organism,” a pygmy zebra octopus (O. chierchiae). Research scientists have typically relied on mice, monkeys, zebra fish, dogs, and other various species that share similarities with human anatomy, genetics, physiology, and biological processes, to conduct biomedical research. Being the first of its kind, the introduction of a captive bred cephalopod to animal research is steering researchers to navigate uncharted legal waters, because cephalopods are not considered “animals” under existing law.

There is widespread public belief that animals used for scientific purposes are legally protected by federal laws. However, by definition, one of those laws—the AWA —excludes cold-blooded creatures from its protections. Cephalopods and other cold-blooded animals, without immediate legal intervention, could be at risk of being subjected to invasive medical procedures resulting in potential serious pain and distress, or euthanasia, while having no legal protections to assure a certain level of animal welfare and husbandry standards afforded to other animals used for biomedical research.

Cephalopods are a class of invertebrate marine animals including cuttlefish, octopuses, the chambered nautilus, squid, and kin. These animals belong to the phylum Mollusca. In particular, octopuses have captivated people with their enigmatic behavior and bewitching allure. Aside from their exterior magnificence, octopuses are believed to have well-developed brains, having the largest brain-to-body mass ratio among invertebrates. These characteristics are indicative of high cognitive complexity and makes octopuses prime candidates for biomedical research and testing.

Studies have discovered that the brains of humans and the brains of octopuses are molecularly similar, when evaluating neurological and cognitive complexity. One scientific study (G., Ponte, G., Volpe, M. et al.) found that an element in an octopus’s vertical lobe, which is essential for learning, is comparable to the human hippocampus responsible for learning and memory.

On September 7, 2023, the National Institute of Health (NIH) put out a request for information to help them structure guidelines meant to protect cephalopods used for research. A request for information indicates that the use of cephalopods in research may soon be on the rise. However, according to the NIH’s request for information:

“A growing body of evidence demonstrates that cephalopods possess many of the requisite biological mechanisms for the perception of pain, such as nociceptors and a centralized nervous system. In addition, it has been shown that cephalopods exhibit adaptive learning, alter their behavior in response to noxious stimuli, and exhibit mammalian-like responses to anesthetics. However, the structural and functional organization of the cephalopod nervous system is very different from mammals, and additional research is necessary to fully understand cephalopod perception.”

This statement implies that to date, researchers using cephalopods for research are not aware of what anesthetics or tranquilizers are most effective to alleviate pain during research procedures, even though these sentient beings can feel both discriminative and affective pain.

As stated by Michael B. Bracken in his paper Why Animal Studies are Often Poor Predictors of Human Reactions to Exposure, “[t]he concept that animal research, particularly that relating to pharmaceuticals and environmental agents, may be a poor predictor of human experience is not new.” With alternatives to animal testing on the rise, it is critical that scientists and lawyers alike prioritize viable alternative options before turning to non-human animal subjects.

Science and ethics are both important and interrelated in many ways. However, when considering scientific exploration, research, ethics, and moral values should help govern how researchers conduct their studies. In 1985, in response to public outcry over alleged animal abuse occurring in research laboratories, Congress mandated research laboratories receiving federal grants to form Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) to address the treatment of animals used for research.

IACUCs require proposed scientific studies to abide by the principles of the “Three Rs” (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement). Before turning octopuses into the “new lab rat,” scientists should follow the 3Rs, especially the replacement R, and seek out non-animal alternatives to test on. Conclusively, without proper legal interference, cephalopods will regrettably become the next species to live out their lives in laboratory tanks, rather than in the wild, at the expense of human curiosity.

Daria Bednarczyk is a second-year law student (2L) at Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) with a robust academic background. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marine Science, a Master of Business Administration degree, and a Master of Environmental Law and Policy degree. In her role as the Marketing and Communications Director of the VLGS Animal Legal Defense Fund Student Chapter, Daria actively engages in advancing animal rights and welfare. Beyond her academic pursuits, she enjoys reading and spending quality time with her canine companion, Topanga. As she approaches graduation, Daria aspires to channel her passion for Animal Law into a meaningful career, ardently advocating for comprehensive animal protection both within the United States and internationally.

References

Emily Greenhalgh, MBL Team Succeeds in Culturing the Pygmy Zebra Octopus, Marine Biological Lab’y (Dec. 16, 2021).

U.S.C. § 2131 et seq.

Paige Helmer, Defying Classification: Cephalopods in Research, The PhDISH.

Jann Vendetti, The Cephalopoda Squids, Octopuses, Nautilus, and Ammonites the Cephalopoda.

Cephalopods in Research, NIH.

Packard A, Cephalopods and Fish: The Limits of Convergence, 47 Biol. Rev. 241–307 (1972).

Petrosino, G., Ponte, G., Volpe, M. et al., Identification of LINE Retrotransposons and Long Non-Coding RNAs Expressed in the Octopus Brain, 20 BMC Biol. 116 (2022).

Request for Information (RFI) on Proposed Guidance to Assured Institutions on Cephalopod Care and Use, NIH.

Crook RJ, Behavioral and Neurophysiological Evidence Suggests Affective Pain Experience in Octopus, 24 iScience. 102229 (2021).

Bracken MB, Why Animal Studies are Often Poor Predictors of Human Reactions to Exposure, 101 J. R. Soc. Med. 120-2 (2009).

Curzer HJ, Perry G, Wallace MC, Perry D., The Three Rs of Animal Research: What they Mean for the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and Why, 22 Sci Eng Ethics. 549-65 (2016).

See generally Nell Greenfieldboyce, Why Octopuses Might be the Next Lab Rats, NPR (June 3, 2019).

The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Johns Hopkins University or Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.