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Reporting in rodent models of ‘chemobrain’: a systematic review assessing compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines

Supportive Care in Cancer volume 29, pages 7073–7084 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Patients diagnosed with cancer are often plagued with debilitating side effects post-chemotherapy treatment. One such side effect is chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment or ‘chemobrain’. Rodent models are commonly used to investigate pathogenesis and potential therapeutic strategies. However, concerns have been raised regarding inadequacies in reporting of animal studies rendering them unreliable and irreproducible. The aim of this systematic review was to assess compliance with the ARRIVE reporting guidelines in peer-reviewed publications evaluating chemotherapy-induced cognitive changes in rodent models, and to determine if the introduction of the ARRIVE guidelines has improved quality of reporting. A comprehensive search was conducted to identify relevant peer-reviewed publications. Ninety-seven studies met the eligibility criteria, and publication compliance with the ARRIVE guideline reporting was assessed. No studies achieved full adherence with the ARRIVE guidelines. Furthermore, no significant improvement was demonstrated in the overall compliance score post-ARRIVE. Given the lack of standardisation of animal models in this research area, these results pose particular threat to future progress and translation of findings in this area of research. These results highlight the need for stricter adherence to the ARRIVE guidelines by journal editors and reviewers. Animal Ethics Committees also have an important educative role in improving knowledge and awareness of the guidelines amongst researchers.

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Data availability

Available on request.

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Funding

This review was conducted with no external funding. ALW was supported by a NHMRC Peter Doherty Biomedical Research Fellowship (APP1140072). RPG was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, South Australia, 5371, Australia

    Rebecca P. George & Alexandra L. Whittaker

  2. Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia

    Ines Semendric, Eleanor R. Bowley-Schubert, Christine T. Chivonivoni & Alexandra P. Warrender

Authors
  1. Rebecca P. George
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  2. Ines Semendric
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  3. Eleanor R. Bowley-Schubert
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  4. Christine T. Chivonivoni
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  5. Alexandra P. Warrender
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  6. Alexandra L. Whittaker
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Contributions

RPG designed the study, assisted in performing the literature search, data extraction, analysis and interpretation and writing the manuscript; IS assisted in study design, data extraction, analysis and interpretation and writing of the manuscript; CC, AW, EBS performed literature search and screened articles by title and abstract; ALW involved in the study design, supervision of the development of the work, assisted in performing the literature search, data analysis and interpretation and writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Rebecca P. George or Alexandra L. Whittaker.

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George, R.P., Semendric, I., Bowley-Schubert, E.R. et al. Reporting in rodent models of ‘chemobrain’: a systematic review assessing compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines. Support Care Cancer 29, 7073–7084 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06312-8

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