Browsing by Subject "Animals, Laboratory"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Bleeding the laboratory mouse: Not all methods are equal
    (Elsevier, 2016-02) Hoggatt, Jonathan; Hoggatt, Amber F.; Tate, Tiffany A.; Fortman, Jeffrey; Pelus, Louis M.; Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine
    The laboratory mouse is the model most frequently used in hematologic studies and assessment of blood parameters across a broad range of disciplines. Often, analysis of blood occurs in a nonterminal manner. However, the small body size of the mouse limits collection based on volume, frequency, and accessible sites. Commonly used sites in the mouse include the retro-orbital sinus, facial vein, tail vein, saphenous vein, and heart. The method of blood acquisition varies considerably across laboratories and is often not reported in detail. In this study, we report significant alterations in blood parameters, particularly of total white blood cells, specific populations of dendritic cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells, and hematopoietic progenitor cells, as a result of site and manner of sampling. Intriguingly, warming of mice prior to tail bleeding was found to significantly alter blood values. Our findings suggest that the same method should be used across an entire study, that mice should be warmed prior to tail bleeds to make levels uniform, and that accurate description of bleeding methods in publications should be provided to allow for interpretation of comparative reports and inter- and intralaboratory experimental variability.
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    Effects of Age of Pups and Removal of Existing Litter on Pup Survival during Cross-Fostering between Multiparous Outbred Mice
    (American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, 2011-09) Hickman, Debra L.; Swan, Melissa P.; Laboratory Animal Resource Center, IU School of Medicine
    Periparturient manipulation of mice is a valuable tool for modern research facilities. Although fostering and Caesarian section frequently are used to eradicate pathogens, an often overlooked use is to rescue poorly breeding strains of mice. Here we characterized the weaning success rates after fostering outbred pups of variable ages (younger than 24 h; 5 to 7 d; 10 to 12 d) with full or partial replacement of litters and multiparous dams. There were no significant differences between most groups when analyzed by full or partial replacement or age of donor pups as compared with control groups, in which pups were manipulated but returned to the birth dam or the birth dam was not disturbed. However, significant differences were associated with fostering of 10- to 12-d-old pups in combination with younger pups. Overall, these findings suggest that limiting fostering to pups that are within 48 h of age and age-matching litters when fostering are unnecessary.
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    Evaluation of the Aesthetics of Physical Methods of Euthanasia of Anesthetized Rats
    (American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, 2011-09) Hickman, Debra L.; Johnson, Steven W.; Laboratory Animal Resource Center, IU School of Medicine
    Dissection of living brain tissue for in vitro experiments requires the use of a rapid euthanasia method. However, the method must not subject animals to unnecessary pain and must be aesthetically acceptable to experimenters. The purposes of the current study were to assess the aesthetics of 6 euthanasia methods, measure the procedure duration, and evaluate brain for pathology after each procedure. We digitally recorded euthanasia of isoflurane-anesthetized rats by 6 physical methods: anesthetic overdose, cardiac exsanguination, decapitation, closed intrathoracic transection of the great vessels and heart, thoracic percussion, and thoracotomy with rupture of great vessels. Volunteer researchers and animal caretakers watched the video and completed an associated questionnaire. Anesthetic overdose and cardiac exsanguinations were rated most aesthetically pleasing, although these procedures took the longest to complete. In contrast, decapitation and thoracic percussion were the least aesthetically pleasing, but these methods were the quickest. No demographic factor was identified that could predict whether a given euthanasia procedure would be favored for aesthetic reasons, and participants provided a wide variety of rationales for the aesthetic ratings they assigned. Although all of these euthanasia methods meet the criteria of approved methods of euthanasia of anesthetized rats as defined by the AVMA, aesthetic features and the scientific need for rapid euthanasia are both considerations in selecting a method.