SUNDAY AFTERNOON AALAS 73RD NATIONAL MEETING
TECHNICAL TRADE PRESENTATIONS – STRATEGIC INNOVATIONS TRACK I Are You Gelling? Get the Most Out of Your Colony with Nutritional Gel Supplementation
1:00 PM - 1:20 PM Speaker: Jay Palmer Moderator: William Thomas Genetically engineered rodent strains or strains that are historically difficult to breed and maintain oftentimes can benefit from nutritional gel supplementation. Nutritional gel products, such as DietGel®, are soft and highly palatable, providing animals with purified ingredients, wholesome nutrition, and extra hydration. DietGel® provides many benefits for colonies that experience cannibalism, poor litter size, or weak or small weanlings. In this presentation we’ll explore the different nutritional characteristics of DietGel® products and discuss studies that demonstrate their effectiveness in supporting colony performance. This Technical Trade Presentation is sponsored in part by ClearH2O.
Optimizing the Use of Catheter Access Buttons and Ports: Understand the Basics for Better Studies and Improved Animal Welfare
1:20 PM - 1:40 PM Speaker: Brad Gien Moderator: Merryl Cramer In recent years, buttons have become the preferred way to infuse and sample from rodents. These miniaturized ports are implanted at the externalization point of the catheter; this protects the catheter from interference while creating a clean, easy port to access the blood vessel. Use of buttons in rats and mice has improved animal welfare by permitting group housing and has also extended catheter patency. While many labs have adopted this technology with success, there are some common questions, such as when to choose a button versus a port, what to know when implanting the device in-house versus working with a vendor, how to optimize the setup for tethered animal studies, and what kinds of studies are the best fit for these tools. While there are some limits to how and where these ports can be used, the technology could improve animal welfare while making studies safer and easier for both animals and researchers. The target audience are those who perform awake animal studies that require dosing and sampling. The data will also be relevant to any animal researchers that are struggling with catheter patency issues, tethered animal studies, reducing animal stress, or making blood collection more efficient. This Technical Trade Presentation is sponsored in part by SAI Infusion Technologies.
Understanding Differences between Inhalant Anesthesia Systems for Small Animals
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1:40 PM - 2:00 PM Speaker: David Poldiak Moderator: Eugene Marino III Until recently, researchers who required inhalant anesthesia for their small animal procedures and surgeries typically chose traditional canister-style vaporizers. A ubiquitous device in most labs, these AnimalWelfare,RegulatoryCompliance,andPublicEducation
workhorse anesthesia systems were originally designed for larger animals and adapted for use on smaller ones despite their inability to deliver flow rates appropriate for rodents and other small animals. Now, using new and innovative designs, researchers have more choices: low-flow electronic systems can deliver just the right amount of anesthesia based on a small animal’s body weight. These systems use less anesthetic and produce less waste anesthesia gas, creating more precise delivery while minimizing exposure to users. Our talk will highlight the pros and cons for each type of anesthesia systems, illustrate which are most appropriate to ensure successful outcomes, and guide both new and veteran researchers on the best system choice for their application. This Technical Trade Presentation is sponsored in part by Kent Scientific Corporation.
The Use of Alfaxalone in Biomedical Research Models
2:00 PM - 2:20 PM Speaker: Karen Kerr Moderator: Amanda Calla Anesthesia may be required in biomedical research models to facilitate handling, prevent patient movement during imaging, and perform procedures that are inappropriate in conscious animals. In many situations, the anesthetic protocols employed aim to maintain patient homeostasis and avoid confounding effects on study outcomes. Alfaxan Multidose IDX (alfaxalone 10 mg/mL) is an anesthetic and sedative that has been indexed for use in over 50 minor, non-food-producing species, and is being increasingly incorporated into research models. Alfaxalone is a GABAergic anesthetic that can be administered by multiple routes of administration and offers a wide safety margin with minimal cardiorespiratory depression. The speaker will review models where alfaxalone is currently being used, with a focus on neurological, pregnancy/preterm/neonatal, and cardiovascular studies in a variety of species. Participants will learn about alfaxalone’s efficacy, versatility, and reliability in a variety of situations and species, based on published literature. The target audience for this presentation is veterinarians, researchers, and technicians. This Technical Trade Presentation is sponsored in part by Jurox Inc.
Best Data and Conduct Practices for Improving Animal Study Reproducibility
2:20 PM - 2:40 PM Speaker: Eric M Ibsen Moderator: Jens Ibsen Researchers have found that 50% to 90% of published in vivo studies were not reproducible. The difficulty across the field of in vivo research of generating results with a high level of integrity, detail, and reproducibility on a consistent basis underscores the need to critically examine, improve, and standardize processes for animal study conduct. Researchers must understand the factors contributing to poor data quality and irreproducible study results and implement effective best practices for data integrity, study conduct, and scientific rigor. Researchers attending this presentation will gain an understanding of some success factors, practical approaches, and study workflow software approaches to make animal studies more reproducible. This Technical Trade Presentation is sponsored in part by Studylog Animal Study Workflow Software.
BiomedicalResearch,Medicine,andMethodology
Facility Design, Management, and Operations Oncology
