SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1544784
Drug Tapering in Animal Research: A Scoping Review
Provisionally accepted
- First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
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Purpose: To synthesize and summarize the scope and protocols of drug tapering in existing animal studies, providing a reference for standardized tapering interventions in future research.Methods: Utilizing a scoping review framework, a systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform (Wanfang), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), and China Biomedical Literature Service System (SinoMed) for studies on drug tapering in animal experiments published up to May 1, 2024. Key data such as disease type, drugs used, and tapering methods were extracted and analyzed.Results: Nineteen studies were included, addressing a range of diseases including respiratory issues, oncology, nephrology, neuropsychiatric disorders, fractures, organ transplantation, and perioperative pain. Only one study commenced tapering upon the emergence of drug toxicity, while the others did not explicitly state the timing of tapering. Tapering methods identified included reducing single drug doses, decreasing administration frequency, and intermittent dosing. The outcomes of tapering were classified into drug discontinuation, low-dose maintenance, and drug substitution, with all studies reporting the effects post-tapering.The methods of drug tapering in animal studies are influenced by multiple factors, including disease characteristics, treatment duration, animal tolerance, and specific goals. There remains a need for further refinement in tapering schedules, methods, and milestones, and the establishment of relevant evaluation metrics to better define tapering timing.
Keywords: animal experiments, drug tapering, Tapering timing, Tapering methods, Tapering outcomes
Received: 06 May 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Chen, Jiang, Fu, Ma, Nie, You, Gao and Rong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ping Rong, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
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