A guide to defining and implementing protocols for the welfare assessment of laboratory animals: eleventh report of the BVAAWF/FRAME/RSPCA/UFAW Joint Working Group on Refinement.

The refinement of husbandry and procedures to reduce animal suffering and improve welfare is an essential component of humane science. Successful refinement depends upon the ability to assess animal welfare effectively, and detect any signs of pain or distress as rapidly as possible, so that any suffering can be alleviated. This document provides practical guidance on setting up and operating effective protocols for the welfare assessment of animals used in research and testing. It sets out general principles for more objective observation of animals, recognizing and assessing indicators of pain or distress and tailoring these to individual projects. Systems for recording indicators, including score sheets, are reviewed and guidance is set out on determining practical monitoring regimes that are more likely to detect any signs of suffering. This guidance is intended for all staff required to assess or monitor animal welfare, including animal technologists and care staff, veterinarians and scientists. It will also be of use to members of ethics or animal care and use committees. A longer version of this document, with further background information and extra topics including training and information sharing, is available on the Laboratory Animals website.

Incentive spirometry decreases respiratory complications following major abdominal surgery.

Pulmonary complications are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality following major abdominal surgery. Chest physiotherapy aims to decrease the likelihood of these complications and hasten recovery. Exercises aimed at maximising inspiratory effort are the most beneficial for the patients. The incentive spirometer is a handheld device that patients use to achieve effective inspiration. In a nonrandomised pilot study of 263 patients we have found that the addition of the incentive spirometer, as part of an intensive post-operative physiotherapy programme, decreased the occurrence of pulmonary complications (6 vs 17%, p = 0.01) and length of stay on the surgical high dependency unit (3.1 vs 4 days p = 0.03). The two groups were comparable when age, sex, smoking history, the need for emergency surgery and post-operative analgesia were compared.

Ventilatory and metabolic responses to hypoxia during moderate hypothermia in anesthetized rats.

In resting euthermic mammals, hypoxia elicits a hyperventilation that results from a combination of hyperpnea and hypometabolism. Often accompanying the hypoxia-induced hypometabolism is a drop in body temperature. To separate the synergic effects of hypothermia per se from the direct effects of hypoxia on metabolic rate, ventilation (VE), and O2 consumption (VO2) were measured in anesthetized rats fitted with abdominal heat exchangers and maintained at either normothermic (37.5 degrees C) or hypothermic (35 degrees C) body temperatures while exposed to either normoxia or hypoxia (7% O2). Hypothermia induced parallel decreases in VE and VO2, thereby maintaining VE/VO2. Hypoxia resulted in a hyperventilation achieved with the same relative decrease in VO2 and increase in VE in both normothermic and hypothermic rats. The results suggest that 1) the changes in metabolic rate and VE during hypothermia reflect a direct effect of cold and, 2) because of similar levels of hypoxic hyperventilation in the hypothermic and normothermic rats, relative to metabolic rate, respiratory gain has not been depressed in hypothermic rats.

Dual effect of aminophylline on the ventilatory response to hypoxia in the rat.

Male Hooded Wistar rats were exposed to three five-minute periods of hypoxia in which they breathed a gas mixture comprising 7% O2 and 93% N2. Before the second and third hypoxic exposures rats were injected (i.m.) with aminophylline (an adenosine antagonist) at a dose of 15 mg.kg-1. In control animals, hypoxia caused an increase in ventilation which was greater during the first than during the fifth minute of hypoxia. Each injection of aminophylline significantly increased ventilation in air-breathing rats. However, the first dose of the drug did not significantly alter the hypoxic ventilatory response. The second dose of aminophylline had two effects on ventilation during hypoxia. It reduced the ventilatory response during the first minute of hypoxia, and also prevented the fall in ventilation between the first and fifth minute of exposure. Ethylenediamine injections had no effect on ventilation or the responses to hypoxia. The results suggest that adenosine has a dual role in respiratory control during hypoxia, one excitatory and the other inhibitory. Although previous studies have already identified such roles for adenosine, the present study may represent the first time in which these have been demonstrated in a single animal model.