Fracture Research Animal Models Database (FRAMD)

FRAMD is a comprehensive, open-access, online database. It sources peer-reviewed scientific publications that use research animal models to study fracture trauma and disease. This dedicated resource enhances users’ ability to select clinically relevant, reproducible, and humane animal models of fracture injury and disease that pertain to their research focus and—importantly—will reduce the unnecessary use of research animals.

FRAMD provides researchers and funding agencies with easy, all-in-one access to a vast array of peer-reviewed fracture science literature, making it easier for users to find the best animal model to test an intervention.

Discover the list of 4,600+ peer-reviewed studies, search easily and find the most relevant and key animal model data - free of charge.

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A thorough appreciation for the research animal model selection process, the range of available models, and what each model offers in terms of validity is incumbent on any orthopedic researcher or fracture-associated grant funding body. FRAMD can help these stakeholders by serving as an additional information resource that supplements traditional sources, such as textbooks, that quickly become outdated, and other databases whose search algorithms and bare-bones results can challenge users looking for comprehensive animal model information.

What is a research animal model?

In the context of this database, a research animal model describes the use of a research animal in which a clinical condition (e.g., diaphyseal fracture, osteoporosis, polytrauma) or intervention (e.g., internal fixator, ostectomy) is replicated using a standardized method to provide the opportunity for controlled scientific analysis.

Aside from orthopedics, research animal models are employed in virtually all fields of biomedical research including, but not limited to, basic biology, immunology and infectious disease, oncology, and behavior. Their purpose is to minimize variables that can otherwise confound clinical research (e.g. patient age, comorbidities), thereby expediting scientific investigation. At the same time, animal models allow testing for safety and efficacy of medical/surgical treatments that might otherwise put the clinical patient at risk or exposed to interventions that offer little or no therapeutic value over the clinical standard.

Research animal models therefore allow us to better understand the natural history of disease, to develop new and improved surgical techniques, and even to predict the effect of a given treatment. In every aspect of orthopedic research, the use of research animal models still constitutes an essential step that leads to the eventual application of newly acquired information to the human and veterinary clinical patient. [i]

[i] An YH. & Friedman RJ. 1999. Animal Models in Orthopedic Research, CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA.
How is FRAMD populated

Scientific articles for are sourced from the PubMed® database using the term bone and fracture and animal. Inclusion criteria are abstracted English language articles and exclusion criteria include clinical case series and case reports, review papers, and articles not using live research animals (e.g. cadaver-only studies). Full-text articles are retrieved for the remaining citations and those reporting use of research animals as models for fracture trauma or disease are critically reviewed with relevant data manually extracted for population of the FRAMD.

For the years 1980-2020, over 4600 relevant articles derived from 612 journals originating from 165 publishers have been catalogued.

How does FRAMD benefit you and your research project?

FRAMD fills an unmet need by providing preclinical researchers and funding agencies with a dedicated resource that will enhance their ability to select animal models of fracture injury and disease that pertain to the investigator’s research focus and are clinically relevant, reproducible, and humane. FRAMD will reduce the unnecessary use of research animals, heighten workplace efficiency, and reduce costs by avoiding use of ill-suited or outdated animal models. FRAMD may particularly benefit: research scientists/clinicians participating in grant writing and organizations seeking best-practice assurance (eg, academic research societies, grant funding agencies, contract research organizations).