4/13 UC Berkeley anti-vivisection home demonstration reportback

On Sunday 4/13, activists demonstrated in the Berkeley neighborhood of CAL vivisector Ralph Freeman. Professor Freeman performs invasive vision experiments on kittens and cats in his laboratory.

An NPR reporter was on hand, and neighbors were mostly supportive. This wasn't the first legal home demonstration for Professor Freeman, and unless he ceases the torture, it won't be the last.

From a 2005 paper of Freeman's:
"Data were obtained from ten young cats (age 2.5 - 6 months) bred in a closed laboratory setting. .During recording, the animal was paralyzed with continuous intravenous infusion of gallarmine triethiodide in glucose saline. The pupils were dilated...
..Animals were refracted, and gas-permeable contact lenses with 3.5mm artificial pupils were fitted to correct focus for a viewing distance of 50cm. A trepanation (hole drilled into the skull) was made above area 17 of one or both cortical hemispheres and the dura (the tough and inflexible outermost of the three layers of the meninges surrounding the brain and spine) was removed. Animals viewed, via front-silvered mirrors, a 21 inch monitor positioned at a distance of 50cm on which stimuli were presented independently in the two eyes. ...In the majority of experiments, neuronal activity was recorded with glass-insulated tungsten micro-electrodes."

From another 2005 paper of Freeman's:
A total of 14 cats were used in this study. ...After a tracheostomy, each animal was placed into a sterotaxic frame and artificially ventilated... ...A craniotomy was performed over each hemisphere...for recordings in visual cortex.
...After craniotomy, the dura (tough and inflexible outermost of the three layers of the meninges surrounding the brain and spine) was reflected to expose the cortex. During recording, eye movements were blocked with a continuous intravenous infusion of pancuronium bromide. Hydration was maintained by a continuous infusion of lactated Ringer's solution.
...Rigid contact lenses with 4mm artificial pupils covered the eyes during recording. After the micro-electrode sensor was positioned over the target brain location, the craniotomy was sealed with agar and a wax coating. Each animal was positioned in front of a system of mirrors that directs the field of view of each eye to separate halves of a cathode ray tube display.