Laboratory animals
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A sheep was anaesthetized for implantation of a novel device (MitroFast) to replace the posterior leaflet of the mitral valve. Anaesthetic management included a balanced anaesthetic protocol and consisted of propofol or isoflurane combined with fentanyl infusion (0.15-0.4 microg/kg/min). Deliberate hypothermia during cardiopulmonary bypass was set at 34.5-35.5 degrees C. ⋯ The anaesthetic period was uneventful, but recovery was prolonged with central nervous and respiratory depression and marked hypoxaemia. Administration of naloxone (1.5 microg/kg, repeated twice at 15-20 min intervals) reversed the central nervous and attenuated the respiratory depressions. An initially low rate of urine production normalized after rewarming and a single intravenous administration of furosemide.
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Comparative Study
Absorbencies of six different rodent beddings: commercially advertised absorbencies are potentially misleading.
Moisture absorbency is one of the most important characteristics of rodent beddings for controlling bacterial growth and ammonia production. However, bedding manufacturers rarely provide information on the absorbencies of available materials, and even when they do, absorption values are usually expressed per unit mass of bedding. Since beddings are usually placed into cages to reach a required depth rather than a particular mass, their volumetric absorbencies are far more relevant. ⋯ Thus, in practical terms the most absorbent bedding here was corncob, followed by the loose pulp beddings; and this is generally supported by their relatively low ammonia production as seen in previous studies. Many factors other than absorbency determine whether a material is suitable as a rodent bedding, and they are briefly mentioned here. However, manufacturers should provide details of bedding absorbencies in terms of volume, in order to help predict the relative absorbencies of the beddings in practical situations.
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General anaesthesia in 12 pregnant ewes undergoing surgery for fetal physiological research was supplemented with an intravenous infusion of remifentanil. This allowed us to employ a lighter plane of surgical anaesthesia and to use intermittent positive pressure ventilation. Our aim was to improve fetomaternal outcome. ⋯ Remifentanil doses of 0.75-2.0 microg/kg/min were needed and typically this allowed halothane concentrations of 1-1.5% to be used for maintenance of anaesthesia. Surgery lasted up to 2.5 h. All 12 ewes and their singleton fetuses survived the peri- and postoperative period in good condition.
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Comparative Study
Report of the FELASA Working Group on evaluation of quality systems for animal units.
This report compares and considers the merits of existing, internationally available quality management systems suitable for implementation in experimental animal facilities. These are: the Good Laboratory Practice Guidelines, ISO 9000:2000 (International Organization for Standardization) and AAALAC International (Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International). Good laboratory practice (GLP) is a legal requirement for institutions undertaking non-clinical health and environmental studies for the purpose of registering or licensing for use and which have to be 'GLP-compliant'. ⋯ AAALAC is primarily a peer-reviewed system of accreditation which evaluates the organization and procedures in programmes of animal care and use to ensure the appropriate use of animals, safeguard animal well-being (ensuring state-of-the-art housing, management, procedural techniques, etc.) as well as the management of health and safety of staff. Management needs to determine, on the basis of a facility's specific goals, whether benefits would arise from the introduction of a quality system and, if so, which system is most appropriate. The successful introduction of a quality system confers peer-recognition against an independent standard, thereby providing assurance of standards of animal care and use, improving the quality of animal studies, and contributing to the three Rs-reduction, refinement and replacement.
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Mechanical ventilation is essential to the proper maintenance of anaesthesia in research animals undergoing laparoscopic research investigations with prolonged pneumoperitoneum. Ventilatory assistance is greatly aided by endotracheal intubation, which in rats can be a challenging procedure with a substantial risk of complication. The difficulty of the procedure arises primarily from the limited exposure and access to the laryngeal opening. We describe a simple and safe technique for endotracheal intubation in the rat that permits the introduction of a large-bore tube under direct visualization using equipment commonly found in the endosurgical research setting.