Pain and distress in laboratory rodent and lagomorphs: Report of the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA) Working Group on Pain and Distress LaboratoryArzz'mah, 1994, 28, 97—1 12

No abstract availabl

Erfarenheter av kontrollerad miljö i försöksdjurslokaler

It is important for many animal model studies, particularly with rodents, to be performed in a well standardized and controlled physical environment. Otherwise the observations and measurements done might create difficulties in interpretation, or the results might even be impossible to reproduce or verify in another laboratory. In the animal department of BISAM at Umea university the ventilation system was modernized in 1983-84 in the rodent facilities, with supply of air through new devices in the ceiling and exhaust of air through perforated walls on two sides of the rooms. The supply air comes from a climat chamber where the incoming air should be properly heated and humidified, as controlled by thermo- and hygrostats in the chamber outlet. The animal rooms are also equipped with a sprinkler system for additional humidification as necessary.This report presents results on controls made on temperature and humidity stability in these rebuilt rodent facilities during summer (1984) as well as winter (early 1985) conditions. The capacity of the air supply system was also controlled.In summary, the temperature in the animal rooms tended to be high during summer, and increased in periods of high out of door temperature so that in the animal cages the temperature could exceed 31 °C. The relative humidity was above accepted levels most of the time. On the other hand, during winter it seemed to be possible to keep the temperature within the desired levels, but the relative humidity was unacceptably low.With these results at hand, the air supply system was controlled for its ability mainly to humidify the air. This control was done during autumn and showed that at that time of the year the capacity was just at limit to give the desired humidity in the animal rooms. The main >>function<< of the room sprinkler system was in fact to decrease room temperature and to give unstable temperature and humidity. During winter when very cold, dry air should be heated and humidified the capacity of the climat chamber is far from sufficient. The high temperature in the rooms during summer depend upon the lack of cooling possibilities in the chamber

Om smärta hos försöksdjur

On Pain in Laboratory Animals. The article gives a short discription in Swedish on the subject ofpain in animals based upon some recent litterature. Suffering, which is the word used in Swedish legislation, and pain, are concepts which are both very difficult to define. Pain is a perception with sensory as well as affective dimensions and this renders knowledge about pain in animals indirect through analogies between humans and animals in anatomy, physiology and behaviour. An important point is made of the fact that pain is not equivalent with nociception. Pain, being a perception, is dependant upon the animal’s conscious state, i.e. on a functioning cerebral cortex (at least in higher animals and man), while different aspects of nociception, >>pain reflexes<<, might occur without pain in true sense, as under anesthesia. After defining some concepts in the area of pain, the neurophysiological mechanisms are shortly described. Peripheral and central painregulating systems are discussed and it is pointed out that pain detection threshold as well as pain sensitivity range are parameters that could be quite variable and regulated through central nervous mechanisms. In the sections on assessment of pain and suffering it is stressed that it is the responsibility ofthe researcher both to be aware of and to able to recognize signs of pain or distress in his/her animals. It is also important to consider degrees of pain, from trivial over moderate to severe pain. The severe pain of extensive surgery or soft tissue damage is in practice not the big problems, but instead the broad field of moderate pain, which might be difficult to recognize for people less experienced in the particular normal behaviour of a certain animal species. In such cases it is suggested that pain killers should be used much more than is done today. There is the striking both similarity and contrast in the fact that antibiotics are often used >>for safety<< even if an infection is not verified, but pain killers are seldom used, unless very clear signs of pain or distress are evident. In cases of more chronic types of pain or suffering there is need for good knowledge and experience of the normal range of behaviour of the particular animal species concerned, because the potential suffering of the animal is judged mainly from changes in its behavioural repertoire. If animals are suspected to suffer in any way, possible causes must be seeked and preferably removed. Otherwise treatment with analgetics or sedatives must be instituted, if the experiment does not prevent it, or one must seriously consider euthanasia. This is in some instances the only proper way to handle suffering in laboratory animals, also because obviously suffering animals are by all decent standards not even scientifically valuable

The effect of local ivermectin treatment on ear mite infestation in a cat breeding colony

The infestation with Otodectes cynotis in a laboratory cat breeding colony, and its apparently successful elimination after local treatment, is described. Breeding animals and kittens were given three treatments, separated by 8—10 days, of ivermectin locally into their ear canals. Samples from ears taken at various post-treatment intervals did not reveal continuing presence of parasites.Clinical follow-up during 11 months of the breeding animals and nine new litters (34 kittens) gave no indication of remaining mites in the colony