Trends among Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees and Animal Resource Programs for Providing Oversight and Animal Care during the (COVID)-19 Pandemic and Beyond.

To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on facility oversight and animal care at 2 y after declaration of the pandemic, we distributed a comprehensive survey to targeted groups within the broader animal research community in early 2022. A total of 265 surveys were returned (161 responses to IACUC questions, 193 responses to animal resource program [ARP] questions, and 89 responses to both). IACUC questions focused on the use of virtual interactions for IACUC activities and on remote work for IACUC support staff during and after the pandemic. ARP questions focused on remote work arrangements, altered work schedules, personnel shortages, and operational changes made during and after the pandemic. Results indicate that IACUCs readily adopted remote work options for staff and virtual meetings, changes that are now largely viewed as permanent, and are using modified methods for postapproval monitoring (PAM), while largely rejecting virtual semiannual facility inspections. This pattern reflects available guidance for virtual IACUC meetings, whereas new guidance for virtual semiannual facility inspections might have caused confusion and regulatory compliance concerns. Remote work options were available for some ARP staff, depending on job responsibilities, but were mostly eliminated by 2 y after the start of the pandemic. ARP staff expressed a strong desire for continued in-person presence of supervisors; this preference was not expressed by IACUC staff. Based on the timing of the survey (April 2022), substantial disruptions in the labor market had resulted in a considerable number of job openings and lack of entry level staff. Long-term assessment of effects on compliance and IACUC engagement would be useful given the widespread use of virtual IACUC meetings and other changes related to institutional and programmatic adoption of remote work options in ARPs.

Effects of Cling Film Draping Material on Body Temperature of Mice During Surgery.

General anesthesia induces many systemic effects, including thermoregulatory impairment and subsequent perioperative hypothermia. Due to the animals' small size, monitoring and maintaining body temperatures in laboratory rodents during anesthesia is important for successful surgical outcomes and prompt anesthetic recovery. Draping materials have the potential to aid in thermal support during surgical anesthesia. In this study, rectal and surface (infrared) temperatures were measured in C57BL/6 mice under isoflurane anesthesia every 5 min for the duration of a 35-min sham surgery. In addition to placement on a circulating water bath, mice (n = 6/group) were draped with commercial cling film (CF; Press'n Seal, Glad, Oakland, CA), a conventional paper drape (PD), or no drape (ND) during surgery. Results demonstrated that CF-draped animals had significantly higher rectal temperatures than nondraped animals. Furthermore, surface temperatures of CF-draped mice were considerably higher than those of both paper-draped and undraped animals. The data indicate that cling film is an effective material to help minimize hypothermia in mice and potentially in other laboratory rodents requiring general anesthesia.

Evaluation of the Sterility of Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil for Use During Rodent Surgery.

In biomedical research, surgeons are often responsible for simultaneously conducting rodent surgical procedures, monitoring anesthesia, and adjusting nonsterile equipment. Maintaining appropriate aseptic technique can be challenging when working under these conditions. Applying a sterile barrier material such as aluminum foil to nonsterile surfaces in these circumstances offers an innovative, inexpensive option to improve asepsis. The purpose of this study was to validate the sterility of foodgrade aluminum foil for use as a sterile barrier on nonsterile equipment during rodent surgery. In this investigation, 10 boxes of aluminum foil were assessed for sterility by using ATP swabs and replicate organism detection and counting (RODAC) plates at 0, 14, and 28 d and 6 mo. At 6 mo, foil was applied to surgical equipment, and sterility was assessed by using ATP swabs and RODAC plates. Results revealed no ATP-positive results at any time point. During assessment of samples obtained directly from boxes, RODAC plates yielded minimal bacterial growth (1 cfu per plate) in 2 of the 10 boxes at initial testing and in 1 box at the day 0, day 14, and 6 mo time points. No growth was observed at day 28 (tested directly from the box) or at 6-mo apparatus testing. Our data revealed minimal bacterial growth on tested samples and support the use of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil as a sterile barrier on nonsterile surfaces during aseptic rodent surgery.

Evaluation of the Sterility of Press'n Seal Cling Film for Use in Rodent Surgery.

level and improve surgical outcomes. Recently, some institutions have approved the use of Press'n Seal cling film (CF; Glad Products, Oakland, CA) as a practical, cost-effective alternative to sterile drapes for rodent surgeries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sterility of CF by using ATP and replicate organism detection and counting (RODAC) plates. We tested 10 boxes of CF at days 0, 14, and 28 after opening the box and compared the results with traditional packaged sterile drapes. Our data indicated that CF ATP bioluminescence remained at or below 10 relative light units for 28 d after opening the box. In addition, RODAC plates had no growth for 70% of CF boxes at day 0, 100% at day 14, and 90% at day 28. The mean growth for the positive plates was 0.024 cfu/cm² sampled after contacting locations on the front and back of the CF. The results of this study support the use of CF as an acceptable alternative to traditional sterile drapes during rodent aseptic surgery.

Advancing proficiency in animal surgery.

Dr. Perret-Gentil describes how he went from being a military veterinarian to being a specialist in laboratory animal surgery and discusses the importance of adequate training in surgical techniques for maintaining animal welfare.

Rodent laparoscopy: refinement for rodent drug studies and model development, and monitoring of neoplastic, inflammatory and metabolic diseases.

The refinement of surgical techniques represents a key opportunity to improve the welfare of laboratory rodents, while meeting legal and ethical obligations. Current methods used for monitoring intra-abdominal disease progression in rodents usually involve euthanasia at various time-points for end of study, one-time individual tissue collections. Most rodent organ tumour models are developed by the introduction of tumour cells via laparotomy or via ultrasound-guided indirect visualization. Ischaemic rodent models are often generated using laparotomies. This approach requires a high number of rodents, and in some instances introduces high degrees of morbidity and mortality, thereby increasing study variability and expense. Most importantly, most laparotomies do not promote the highest level of rodent welfare. Recent improvements in laparoscopic equipment and techniques have enabled the adaptation of laparoscopy for rodent procedures. Laparoscopy, which is considered the gold standard for many human abdominal procedures, allows for serial biopsy collections from the same animal, results in decreased pain and tissue trauma as well as quicker postsurgical recovery, and preserves immune function in comparison to the same procedures performed by laparotomy. Laparoscopy improves rodent welfare, decreases inter-animal variability, thereby reducing the number of required animals, allows for the replacement of larger species, decreases expense and improves data yield. This review article compares rodent laparotomy and laparoscopic surgical methods, and describes the utilization of laparoscopy for the development of cancer models and assessment of disease progression to improve data collection and animal welfare. In addition, currently available rodent laparoscopic equipment and instrumentation are presented.

Highly attenuated smallpox vaccine protects rabbits and mice against pathogenic orthopoxvirus challenge.

The possible reemergence of smallpox through bioterrorism requires the preparation of adequate stockpiles of vaccine. Dryvax, the only US-licensed vaccinia virus smallpox vaccine, has an unacceptable safety profile in the pre-event setting. LC16m8 is a Japanese-licensed attenuated vaccinia virus strain that has been safely used in over 50,000 persons. Until now, efficacy of this vaccine was unproven. Using two animal models, we show that LC16m8 and Dryvax elicit comparable humoral immune responses after a single vaccination and equivalently protect against lethal poxvirus disease. Thus, LC16m8 shows promise as a safe and effective smallpox vaccine with the potential for replacing Dryvax.

Localized gene expression following administration of adeno-associated viral vectors via pancreatic ducts.

Gene transfer into pancreatic cells in vivo could be of immense therapeutic benefit in cases of type 1 diabetes (T1D) through the production of molecules capable of interrupting the progression of autoimmunity or promoting regeneration of insulin-secreting beta cells. We adapted a clinically relevant surgical technique (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) to deliver rAAV encoding human alpha1-antitrypsin (approved gene symbol SERPINA1) to the pancreas of 3-week-old Fisher 344 rats and C57BL/6 mice. We compared natural as well as bioengineered serotypes of rAAV (rAAV1, rAAV2/Apo, rAAV8) as well as different promoters (chicken beta-actin, human insulin) for their expression in vivo. Rats injected with rAAV1 showed the highest hAAT expression (week 2, rAAV1/CB-AT, 579 +/- 457 ng/ml). In mice, rAAV8 vector delivered the highest serum concentration of hAAT (week 2, rAAV8/CB-AT, 19 +/- 6 microg/ml). The chicken beta-actin promoter provided the highest expression in both rodent experiments. Immunohistochemical staining indicated transduction primarily of pancreatic acinar cells with either the rAAV1/CB-AT vector in the rat or the rAAV8/CB-AT vector in the mouse. This study demonstrates that rAAV vectors can be designed to deliver therapeutic genes efficiently to the pancreas and achieve high levels of gene expression and may be useful in treating pancreatic disorders, including T1D.