Amanda R Maxwell, Natalie J Castell, Jacqueline K Brockhurst, Eric K Hutchinson, Jessica M Izzi
{"title":"Determination of an Acclimation Period for Swine in Biomedical Research.","authors":"Amanda R Maxwell, Natalie J Castell, Jacqueline K Brockhurst, Eric K Hutchinson, Jessica M Izzi","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-047","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-047","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Swine are widely used models in biomedical research due to their physiologic and anatomic similarities to humans. During transport from vendors to research facilities, pigs are subject to a number of stressors, including environmental, social, and stress as a result of deprivation from food and water. As stress can have a number of adverse psychologic and physiologic effects, an acclimation period, defined as the period of time that an animal has to adjust and stabilize in a new environment, is recommended. The literature indicates that swine should be conditioned to their new facility for 5 to 7 d prior to undergoing survival surgery; however, to date, there is no published scientific evidence to support this or any specific acclimation period for swine. To investigate whether a certain length acclimation period leads to decreased stress in swine, we measured 2 stress biomarkers, cortisol and chromogranin A (CgA), from the saliva of 12 naive Yorkshire swine (n = 6 males and 6 females) arriving at our facility for use in research protocols. Noninvasive saliva collection was performed on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14 after arrival from the vendor (representing different acclimation periods). We hypothesized that longer acclimation periods would result in reduced levels of both cortisol and CgA, indicating reduced stress. Our data revealed that there was no statistical difference in cortisol levels over time (P = 0.8200), nor between the sexes (P = 0.9886) or individual animals (P = 0.6280). CgA, similarly to cortisol, showed no overall effect of time (P = 0.2017) or sex (P = 0.6598). For this analyte, individual animal was significant (P < 0.0001), which suggests high interanimal variation. Furthermore, there was a significant decrease (P = 0.0077) in salivary CgA from day 1 compared with day 14, suggesting that swine may benefit from an acclimation period of at least 14 d.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":"651-654"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11645885/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141899261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julia P Smachlo, Marcia L Hart, Michael D Evans, Brenda L Kick
{"title":"Evaluation of the Efficacy of Disinfectants in Reducing Contamination of Bacterial and Viral Murine Pathogens on Gloved Hands.","authors":"Julia P Smachlo, Marcia L Hart, Michael D Evans, Brenda L Kick","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-038","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-038","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Disinfectant application to gloved hands before handling SPF mice is standard practice to minimize transmission of pathogens and microbial contamination between cages. The risk of contamination with murine pathogens on gloves as well as the efficacy of disinfectant application for this step is largely unknown. This study aimed to determine if murine norovirus (MNV), Helicobacter spp., and Rodentibacter spp. are detectable on gloved hands and, if they are, to evaluate how effective the application of a hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectant (Rescue) or 70% ethanol is in reducing the transfer of these pathogens while handling multiple cages of mice. Mice with natural infections of these pathogens were handled without the application of any disinfectant and the gloves were swabbed for PCR testing. All pathogens were detected via PCR with Helicobacter spp. the most frequently transferred in 83% of the cages handled. The mice were then divided into 4 treatment groups based on the product applied to gloves before handling: Rescue, 70% ethanol, sterile water, and no product. Mice in each cage were briefly handled, and the gloves were swabbed with ATP swabs after each cage and swabs for PCR testing after handling 4 and 9 cages, consecutively. All pathogens were detected via PCR in all treatment groups, and neither Rescue nor 70% ethanol was superior to water or no product in reducing contamination. Rescue and 70% ethanol were effective in maintaining lower levels of organic microbial contamination than water and no product for consecutive handling of up to 3 and 4 cages of mice, respectively. This study indicates that exposure to MNV, Helicobacter spp., and Rodentibacter spp. from handling mice is a risk and the application of Rescue or 70% ethanol is not completely effective in eliminating transfer of these pathogens.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":"63 6","pages":"644-650"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11645884/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142878332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sarah M Ozawa, Kursten V Pierce, Andrea Thomson, Nina A Moiseiwitsch, Jazz Stephens, Jessie LeGrand, Ashley C Brown, Hiroyuki Mochizuki
{"title":"Point-of-Care Cardiac Troponin I Assay Evaluation in New Zealand White Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus).","authors":"Sarah M Ozawa, Kursten V Pierce, Andrea Thomson, Nina A Moiseiwitsch, Jazz Stephens, Jessie LeGrand, Ashley C Brown, Hiroyuki Mochizuki","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-041","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-041","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is a cardiac-specific biomarker, used for the detection of myocardial injury. While rabbits develop naturally occurring cardiovascular disease, they are also an animal model for human disease; thus, rapid detection of cTnI has implications for both veterinary and human medicine. The objective of this study was to validate and establish a reference interval for a point-of-care (POC) cTnI assay in New Zealand White rabbits. In the first portion of the study, rabbit cardiac and skeletal muscle tissues were used to create homogenates, serially diluted with saline or rabbit whole blood, and run by repeated analysis on the POC assay. In the second portion of the study, a reference interval of peripheral whole blood cTnI was determined by robust methods from 49 New Zealand White rabbits. The least diluted cardiac muscle homogenates produced detectable cTnI (mean 23.12 ± 3.557 ng/mL), while skeletal muscle homogenates produced low to undetectable cTnI. The CV ranged from 0.00% to 32.51% for cTnI of diluted cardiac muscle homogenates. Rabbit cardiac homogenate diluted in blood had a linear relationship to cTnI concentration (Y = 0.2254 × X + 0.5396, R2 = 0.975). The reference interval for cTnI in this population was less than 0.04 ng/mL. This POC assay may be useful when rapid detection of cTnI is needed and differentiation between normal and elevated values is required. Given the high CV, this assay may not be appropriate for cases that require high sensitivity or detection of low concentrations of cTnI.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":"669-674"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11645876/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142134944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners Position Statement: Handling and Physical Restraint of Research Animals.","authors":"","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-074","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-074","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11467876/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142305002","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners Position Statement: Definition of Animal Welfare.","authors":"","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-071","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-071","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11467884/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142147221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners Position Statement: Animal Care Principles.","authors":"","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-073","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-073","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11467887/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142142211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners Position Statement: Humane Endpoints.","authors":"","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-072","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-072","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11467883/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142142212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The ARRIVE 2.0 Guidelines: Importance and Full Adoption by AALAS Journals.","authors":"Mark A Suckow, Michael T Fallon","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-083","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-083","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11467871/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142142214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Austin Chiang, Sullivan S S Haine, Rebecca Goldring, Arne Jungwirth, Munir Siddiqui, Gerald Wilkinson, Andrea Manica, Riva J Riley
{"title":"Comprehensive Husbandry Protocol for <i>Corydoras</i> Catfish and Many Other Amazonian Species.","authors":"Austin Chiang, Sullivan S S Haine, Rebecca Goldring, Arne Jungwirth, Munir Siddiqui, Gerald Wilkinson, Andrea Manica, Riva J Riley","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-039","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-039","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A variety of fish species have proven instrumental in the investigation of evolution, behavior, ecology, and physiology, among many other fields. Many model systems (e.g., zebrafish, guppies, and three-spined sticklebacks) have been maintained by institutions and have had protocols written with respect to their husbandry. Here we present the protocols we have developed to maintain and breed a variety of <i>Corydoras</i> catfish species, which are native to the tropical Americas. <i>Corydoras</i> species are excellent systems for investigating behavior, ecology, and other topics, and our husbandry protocols would be suitable for nearly every species in the genus. In addition, these protocols are appropriate for a variety of softwater Amazonian species, and we present options for a variety of housing and husbandry conditions. On the whole, we suggest that, in a scientific laboratory setting, the use of remineralized reverse osmosis water is most appropriate and that in context, a single measure, total dissolved solids, can be used to monitor the water chemistry for water introduced to fish enclosures.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11467888/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142121449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From the Archives, in Recognition of the 75th Anniversary of AALAS: Presentations from the 1950 Inaugural Meeting of the <i>Animal Care Panel</i>.","authors":"Glen Otto","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-066","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-066","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11467873/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142083010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}