Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS最新文献

{"title":"Sedation Efficacy of Midazolam in Conjunction with Ketamine and Alfaxalone in Female Laboratory Guinea Pigs (<i>Cavia porcellus</i>).","authors":"Keely Nicole Wharton, Courtney A Walsh, Marlena Haulter, Dinesh Ekanayake, Dil Ekanayake-Alper","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-000028","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-000028","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Guinea pigs have been integral as models used in biomedical research, making significant contributions to nutritional, auditory, immunologic, and hypersensitivity studies, and necessitating the routine need for sedation in laboratory settings. The ketamine-xylazine (KX) combination has been the standard sedation protocol for decades. However, due to the adverse effects and abuse potential of xylazine, this study explores the possibility of substituting xylazine with midazolam and examines the combined use of midazolam with ketamine and alfaxalone in female laboratory guinea pigs. Our findings indicate that KX facilitates the fastest induction and longest duration of sedation compared with other sedatives, including ketamine-midazolam (KM), which, despite its rapid induction, results in significantly shorter sedation durations. KX also ensures a deeper anesthetic depth and greater odds of loss of withdrawal and inguinal reflexes, in contrast to KM and alfaxalone-midazolam (AM), under which only 15% of the animals lost these reflexes. In terms of cardiopulmonary function, KM led to an increased heart rate attributed to elevated sympathetic activity. All 4 sedative protocols lead to respiratory depression, except KM, which causes minimal reduction. Adverse events varied, with 75% of animals experiencing injection site reactions after KX administration and 67% exhibiting regurgitation post-KM administration. No adverse events were reported for the AM combination, suggesting its safer profile. In conclusion, while KX remains the superior protocol for sedation due to its efficiency, reliability, and minimal impact on physiologic parameters, midazolam is not a preferable alternative to replace xylazine. Its increased sympathetic tone, hyperesthesia, and shorter action duration, coupled with a higher potential for adverse events, limit its suitability to combine with ketamine in guinea pig sedation. However, when midazolam is used in conjunction with safer alternatives like alfaxalone, it presents a viable sedation strategy, emphasizing the need for further research into optimizing sedative combinations for laboratory guinea pigs.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11467886/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141794406","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":"Effects of Intermittent Harem Mating on Parturition-induced Stress and Success Rate of Weaning in C57BL/6JNarl Mice.","authors":"Tsung-Keng Chang, Chih-Hsuan Wang, Tzu-Yi Lin, Yu-Chia Su","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-000003","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-000003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Improving the effectiveness of mating schemes for large-scale production of mice is an ongoing challenge in animal facilities. Continuous mating, which requires fewer breeding cages than intermittent mating, has traditionally been used to take advantage of postpartum estrus for efficient production. However, the continuous mating scheme lacks flexibility because it cannot immediately accommodate the reduced needs of mice when production levels are high. In this study, we compared reproductive performance, fecal corticosterone metabolite (FCM) level as a stress indicator, and mouse mortality between the continuous trio (CT) and intermittent quad (IQ) mating schemes. The weaning rates in the IQ scheme were higher than those in the CT scheme (98.8% compared with 85.3%). The FCM levels in IQ female breeders were lower during the first 5 d after parturition than those in CT female breeders. The FCM levels in postpartum females housed with 2 adult mice were significantly higher on days 1, 3, and 5 after giving birth than those of females housed alone. This suggests that the presence of cage mates may induce stress responses in postpartum females. Increasing the individual cage area did not reduce the FCM levels of female breeders when accompanied by cage mates after parturition. In addition, the incidence of dystocia and mortality was lower in IQ breeders than in CT breeders. In summary, this breeding trial suggests that compared with the continuous mating scheme, the intermittent mating scheme improves the welfare of postpartum females with normal breeding performance in the C57BL/6JNarl production colony.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11467875/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141768378","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":"Comparison between a Tail Clamp and Electrical Stimulation for Sevoflurane Minimum Anesthetic Concentration Determination in Green Iguanas (<i>Iguana iguana</i>).","authors":"Laura R Ghussn, André A Justo, Mariana C Sanches, Silvia Rg Cortopassi, Adriano B Carregaro","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000124","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000124","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study aimed to compare the minimum anesthetic concentration (MAC) of sevoflurane in green iguanas using elec- trical stimulation and tail clamping as noxious stimuli. Seven adult green iguanas (<i>Iguana iguana</i>) weighing 580 to 1,300 g were enrolled. Each iguana was anesthetized twice after a 1-week washout period, with MAC being determined using a tail clamp (MACt) or electrical stimulation (MACe ) techniques. After sevoflurane mask induction and endotracheal intubation, the fraction of expired sevoflurane (Fe 'Sevo) was maintained at 3.1% for 15 min before noxious stimulation. In a bracketing design, the subsequent Fe'Sevo values were increased or decreased by 10% after positive or negative responses, respectively. Each targeted Fe 'Sevo was kept constant for 15 min before stimulation. In MACt, the noxious stimulus involved closing a Kelly hemostatic curved forceps to the first ratchet at the base of the tail. At the same site, in MACe, 2 30 × 0.8-mm hypodermic needles inserted 1 cm apart were connected to an electrical stimulator set to deliver 30 mA at 50 Hz at a 6.5-ms interval. The hemostat and the needles were repositioned 2 cm distally and on alternate tail sides at each stimulation round. Individual MAC was obtained when 2 consecutive crossover events occurred (a positive response preceding a negative response or vice versa), with the MAC of each group represented by the average of the individual MAC values. Median (interquartile range) values for the sevoflurane MAC did not differ significantly between groups (2.2 [2.2 to 2.8%] in MACe and 2.2 [1.8 to 3.5%] in MACt ; <i>P</i> = 0.812). Time to anesthesia induction, time to MAC measurement, heart rate (HR), end-tidal carbon dioxide (ET'CO2), and cloacal temperature were not different between groups. Both the tail-clamping and the electrical stimulation techniques yielded resembling sevoflurane MAC values in green iguanas, which makes the tail clamp a reliable alternative to electrical stimulation-based MAC research in this species.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":"418-421"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11270046/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140066399","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":"Infrared Thermal Imaging during the Estrous Cycle in Adult Wistar Rats.","authors":"Lucia Mihalovičová, Veronika Kunšteková, Dávid Miláček, Andrej Feješ, Mária Tekeľová, Emese Renczés, Peter Celec, Veronika Borbélyová","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000087","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000087","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The collection and examination method of vaginal smears is the standard for the determination of ovulation or phases of the estrous cycle of rodents used in research. However, this method is time consuming and may not be amenable to continual monitoring of a large number of animals. Infrared thermography has recently emerged as a noninvasive technique that requires relatively little handling of animals. The body temperature of rodents has been shown to correlate with the ocular surface temperature. This study aimed to evaluate the use of thermographic monitoring of the ocular surface for the identification of estrus in rats. Vaginal smears were collected from female Wistar rats (<i>n</i> = 22) for 14 consecutive days. Core body temperature was estimated by measuring ocular surface temperature using a thermal camera; vaginal temperature was measured using a digital thermometer. Average temperatures were calculated for each rat for each phase of the estrous cycle. The highest core body and vaginal temperature were measured during the estrus phase (37.2 ± 0.6 °C and 37.7 ± 0.6 °C, respectively). The temperatures then fell as the rat entered the diestrus phase (36.8 ± 0.5 °C and 37 ± 0.5 °C). The core body temperature was positively correlated with vaginal temperature (<i>r</i> = 0.697, <i>P</i> < 0.001). In conclusion, thermography is a less invasive method of determining estrus in rats as compared with vaginal smear collection. However, thermography is less accurate and requires at least a 12-d period of measurement.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":"397-402"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11270034/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140112544","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":"Deep Learning for Face Detection and Pain Assessment in Japanese macaques (<i>Macaca fuscata</i>).","authors":"Vanessa N Gris, Thomás R Crespo, Akihisa Kaneko, Munehiro Okamoto, Juri Suzuki, Jun-Nosuke Teramae, Takako Miyabe-Nishiwaki","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000056","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000056","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Facial expressions have increasingly been used to assess emotional states in mammals. The recognition of pain in research animals is essential for their well-being and leads to more reliable research outcomes. Automating this process could contribute to early pain diagnosis and treatment. Artificial neural networks have become a popular option for image classification tasks in recent years due to the development of deep learning. In this study, we investigated the ability of a deep learning model to detect pain in Japanese macaques based on their facial expression. Thirty to 60 min of video footage from Japanese macaques undergoing laparotomy was used in the study. Macaques were recorded undisturbed in their cages before surgery (No Pain) and one day after the surgery before scheduled analgesia (Pain). Videos were processed for facial detection and image extraction with the algorithms RetinaFace (adding a bounding box around the face for image extraction) or Mask R-CNN (contouring the face for extraction). ResNet50 used 75% of the images to train systems; the other 25% were used for testing. Test accuracy varied from 48 to 54% after box extraction. The low accuracy of classification after box extraction was likely due to the incorporation of features that were not relevant for pain (for example, background, illumination, skin color, or objects in the enclosure). However, using contour extraction, preprocessing the images, and fine-tuning, the network resulted in 64% appropriate generalization. These results suggest that Mask R-CNN can be used for facial feature extractions and that the performance of the classifying model is relatively accurate for nonannotated single-frame images.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":"403-411"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11270042/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140013859","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":"Determination of Postmortem Interval in Mice.","authors":"Rachel R Howie, Michael M McKinney, Nicholas M Tataryn, Allysa L Cole, William D Dupont, Tzushan S Yang, Katherine N Gibson-Corley","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000107","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000107","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite the major use of mice in biomedical research, little information is available with regard to identifying their postmortem changes and using that information to determine the postmortem interval (PMI), defined as the time after death. Both PMI and environmental conditions influence decomposition (autolysis and putrefaction) and other postmortem changes. Severe decomposition compromises lesion interpretation and disease detection and wastes limited pathology resources. The goal of this study was to assess postmortem changes in mice in room temperature cage conditions and under refrigeration at 4 °C to develop gross criteria for the potential value of further gross and histologic evaluation. We used 108 experimentally naïve C57BL/6 mice that were humanely euthanized and then allocated them into 2 experimental groups for evaluation of postmortem change: room temperature (20 to 22 °C) or refrigeration (4 °C). PMI assessments, including gross changes and histologic scoring, were performed at hours 0, 4, 8, and 12 and on days 1 to 14. Factors such as temperature, humidity, ammonia in the cage, and weight change were also documented. Our data indicates that carcasses held at room temperature decomposed faster than refrigerated carcasses. For most tissues, decomposition was evident by 12 h at room temperature as compared with 5 d under refrigeration. At room temperature, gross changes were present by day 2 as compared with day 7 under refrigeration. Mice at room temperature lost 0.78% of their baseline body weight per day as compared with 0.06% for refrigerated mice (95% CI for difference 0.67% to 0.76%, <i>P</i> < 0.0005). This study supports the consideration of temperature and PMI as important factors affecting the suitability of postmortem tissues for gross and histologic evaluation and indicates that storage of carcasses under refrigeration will significantly slow autolysis.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":"428-436"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11270044/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140112543","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":"Evaluation of Efficacy of 2 Extended-release Bupivacaine Products in a Porcine Model of Incisional Pain.","authors":"Peggy Yang, Stephanie Yang, Laura B Durham, Patrick A Lester, Daniel D Myers","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000106","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000106","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Extended-release (ER) local anesthetics are often incorporated in multi-modal analgesia or as an alternative when the effect of systemic analgesics may confound research. In this study, we compared the analgesic efficacy of 2 ER bupivacaine anesthetics with different ER mechanisms, a slow-release bupivacaine-meloxicam polymer (BMP) and a sucrose acetate isobutyrate bupivacaine (SABER-B) system. We used a full-thickness unilateral skin incision porcine model to evaluate the efficacy of these 2 ER bupivacaine analgesics. Eighteen male swine were randomized into 3 groups: control (saline; <i>n</i> = 6), bupivacaine:meloxicam (10 mg/kg, 0.3 mg/kg; <i>n</i> = 6), and SABER-B (10 mg/kg; <i>n</i> = 6). After surgery, pigs were assessed for changes in body weight, salivary cortisol level, and response to von Frey testing at 1, 3, 6, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, and 168 h. Body weight and salivary cortisol levels were not significantly different between groups. Based on the von Frey testing, the pigs that received analgesics showed a significantly higher withdrawal threshold of nociceptive stimulus than those that received saline at 1, 3, 6, and 24 h after the surgery. At 48 h after surgery, the SABER-B group had a significantly higher withdrawal threshold than the saline group. The withdrawal threshold was not significantly different from the baseline measurement on intact skin at 3 and 6 h after surgery in the BMP group or 1 and 3 h for the SABERB group. The analgesic effects of BMP were greatest at 3 and 6 h after surgery and that of SABER-B as 1 and 3 h SABER-B provided an earlier onset of analgesia and longer analgesia duration than did BMP. This study demonstrates that ER bupivacaine can provide pigs with 24 to 48 h of analgesia for incisional pain.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":"422-427"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11270038/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140178439","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":"AALAS Journals: Continual Adaptation to Meet Changing Environments.","authors":"M A Suckow, M T Fallon","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-063","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-063","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":"63 4","pages":"353-356"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11270040/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141904028","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":"Dry Heat Sterilization of a Pelleted, Natural Ingredient Rodent Diet.","authors":"David M Kurtz, Tanya E Whiteside, Gordan Caviness, Fred B Lih","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-000005","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-24-000005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sterilization of rodent feed is recommended to eliminate potential murine pathogens and minimize microbial variability between batches. Most research institutions sterilize feed using steam/pressure (autoclave) or irradiation. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages that contribute to their suitability, including cost, maintenance, availability, and alterations to the exposed product. Dry heat sterilization, which has been in use for over 75 y, uses higher temperatures and longer sterilization times than steam autoclave and is most often used for delicate instruments or products that would be damaged by water such as powders or oil-based liquids. Dry heat sterilization in vivaria has been limited to date but is gaining popularity due to lower initial purchase and ongoing operational costs as compared with steam autoclaves. Little published information exists on the effects of dry heat sterilization on animal feed. We evaluated the sterility and chemical alterations of a natural ingredient, pelleted, rodent diet (NIH-31) after exposure to dry heat. Feed sterility was achieved using a dry heat exposure temperature of 160 °C (320 °F) for 4 h. This exposure resulted in a significant loss of heat-labile vitamins and significantly more acrylamide production as compared with the nonsterile, irradiated, and autoclaved feed.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":"377-384"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11270041/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140859481","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":"Optimizing the Glass Bead Sterilization Protocol Focusing on Removal of Organic and Bacterial Intraoperative Contamination.","authors":"Keith Lewy, Jonathan Bova, Timothy A Erickson, Robert Rose, Sara D Lawhon, Tracy H Vemulapalli","doi":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000122","DOIUrl":"10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000122","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Validated glass bead sterilization protocols to effectively sterilize rodent surgical instruments after bacterial exposure (for example, cecal contamination) are lacking. To refine current approaches, we added either a multienzyme detergent, neutral pH detergent, or chlorhexidine scrub step before glass bead sterilization of forceps or needle drivers exposed to cecal contents. We exposed sets of forceps and needle drivers to cecal contents, which were then air dried for 3 min. Immediately after, the instruments were wiped several times with a clean, dry paper towel. The contaminated tips were soaked in either a multienzyme or neutral pH detergent (<i>t</i> = 5 min), chlorhexidine scrub (<i>t</i> = 2 min), or no pretreatment solution. To further increase debris removal, instruments (from all groups) were brushed using a clean toothbrush. The nonpretreatment instruments were briefly soaked in saline before brushing. After being rinsed with sterile water, all instruments were exposed to a glass bead sterilizer for 60 s at 500 °F (260 °C). Sets were then swabbed for bacterial culturing. Swabs were plated onto either sheep blood agar (<i>n</i> = 23) or chocolate agar (<i>n</i> = 20) for aerobic culturing or <i>Brucella</i> agar (<i>n</i> = 20) for anaerobic culturing. A subset of instruments was sampled to determine organic material presence after treatment using an ATP luminometer (<i>n</i> = 21). Multiple agar types and bioluminescence were used to more deeply evaluate tool sterility and to differentiate the relative effectiveness of each protocol. From the saline group, only one pair of forceps yielded growth on <i>Brucella</i> agar, and 2 pairs yielded growth on chocolate agar. No other bacterial growth was observed. The use of a pretreatment agent also lowered overall organic contamination levels in needle drivers compared with using only saline. These results indicate that brushing instruments to mechanically remove debris from instruments is paramount to ensure sterility. However, a best practice would be to also use one of the pretreatment options used in this study.</p>","PeriodicalId":94111,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS","volume":" ","pages":"368-376"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11270036/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140137596","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}