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

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.

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 Corydoras catfish species, which are native to the tropical Americas. Corydoras 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.

Buprenorphine hydrochloride (Bup-HCl) is a common injectable opioid analgesic. In ferrets, Bup-HCl must be administered every 8 to 12 h to maintain clinical efficacy. Extended-release analgesics offer multiple advantages, including reduced handling and injection frequency, improved compliance, and increased protection from end-of-dose failure. Although efficacy of extended-release buprenorphine formulations has been demonstrated in other species, their use in the domestic ferret has not been investigated. In this study, we evaluated the pharmacokinetics of a compounded polymeric formulation of buprenorphine (Bup-ER) and a pharmaceutical-grade, FDA-indexed liposomal suspension (Bup-XR). Two doses each of Bup-ER (0.12 and 0.2 mg/kg) and Bup-XR (0.2 and 0.6 mg/kg SC) were administered to young adult female ferrets and plasma concentrations were measured between 0 and 96 h (n = 4 animals per timepoint). All doses of both drugs achieved therapeutic plasma levels by 30 min. Furthermore, high-dose Bup-XR maintained therapeutic levels for 72 h, followed by high-dose Bup-ER (less than 48 h), low-dose Bup-XR (24 h), and low-dose Bup-ER (less than 24 h). In this study, we also developed a pain scoring system and utilized this to compare analgesic efficacy between single high-dose Bup-XR (0.6 mg/kg SC) and a standard postoperative course of Bup-HCl (0.02 mg/kg SC every 10 to 12 h for 8 doses) after ovariohysterectomy. Ferrets receiving Bup-XR had significantly lower respiratory rate and posture scores in the first 24 h postoperatively than did those that received Bup-HCl and were less likely to react to palpation of the surgical incision. Of note, ferrets that received high-dose Bup-ER had a significantly higher incidence of injection site reactions than ferrets that received Bup-HCl (P = 0.0137). This study demonstrates that a single dose of Bup-XR (0.6 mg/kg SC) is a safe and effective analgesic in female ferrets, with a duration of action up to 72 h and minimal side effects, offering a refinement to analgesia in this species.