Animals have been utilised in human studies for millennia, including by Aristotle in ancient Greece. Animal models expanded over the 18th and 19th centuries, with scientists such as Van Helmont, Redi, Needham, Spallanzani, Lavoisier, and Pasteur performing research to investigate life beginnings, anatomy, physiology, disease and pharmacology. This paper examines the use of animal models in pathological and medicinal plant health research, focusing on the ethical concerns associated with their use and the role of the National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (NCCAE) in promoting ethical considerations in research and teaching. Researchers and scientists that prioritise integrity- and ethics-based research practices when employing animals, as well as the creation of regulatory frameworks that facilitate quicker learning and expedite the use of animals in experiments. This paper outlines animal-based health research as well as the existing framework for regulating laboratory animal science, with the goal of increasing scientific community understanding of these ethical and legal guidelines of pathological and medicinal plant research.

Animal use; biology; ethics; pathology, Pharmacology, legal guidelines, medicinal plants