Clinical, Physiologic, and Behavioral Evaluation of Permanently Catheterized NMRI Mice.

Vascular catheterization is becoming a popular technique in laboratory rodents, facilitating repetitive blood sampling and infusion in individual animals. In mice, catheterization is complicated by their small body size, which may increase the risk of postoperative complications that may both threaten catheter longevity and animal welfare. Less obvious complications to a permanent catheter may include subclinical infection, visceral tissue damage from disseminating microthrombi released from the catheter, and distress from being isolated from conspecifics and other experimental stressors.

Time-dependent Pathologic and Inflammatory Consequences of Various Blood Sampling Techniques in Mice.

We compared 6 frequently used mouse blood-sampling methods (lateral tail incision; tail-tip amputation; sublingual, submandibular, and saphenous vein puncture; and retrobulbar sinus puncture during isoflurane anesthesia) with regard to induction of local and systemic inflammation, stomach contents, weight changes, and corticosterone levels at 6 h to 12 d after sampling. Local inflammation was assessed through histopathology and assessment of the expression of inflammation and tissue damage-related genes (, , , , , and ) in sampled tissue. Systemic inflammation was assessed through quantification of plasma haptoglobin levels, measurement of blood expression, and evaluation of histopathologic changes in lung, kidney, liver, and spleen.

Ultrasonographic and histological evaluation of the effects of long-term carotid catheterization on cardiac function in NMRI mice.

Catheterization of laboratory mice is commonly performed in biomedical research to infuse substances and for blood sampling. One approach is to catheterize the right common carotid artery and advance the catheter until the tip is positioned in the aorta or the proximal brachiocephalic trunk. Owing to the small body size of the mouse, a catheter tends to occupy a great part of even the larger vessel lumens, and this may increase vascular resistance with potential pathophysiological impacts on the heart.

Carotid Catheterization and Automated Blood Sampling Induce Systemic IL-6 Secretion and Local Tissue Damage and Inflammation in the Heart, Kidneys, Liver and Salivary Glands in NMRI Mice.

Automated blood sampling through a vascular catheter is a frequently utilized technique in laboratory mice. The potential immunological and physiological implications associated with this technique have, however, not been investigated in detail. The present study compared plasma levels of the cytokines IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17A, GM-CSF, IFN-γ and TNF-α in male NMRI mice that had been subjected to carotid artery catheterization and subsequent automated blood sampling with age-matched control mice.

Applicability of Commercially Available ELISA Kits for the Quantification of Faecal Immunoreactive Corticosterone Metabolites in Mice.

Background: Commercially available ELISA kits are popular among investigators that quantify faecal corticosterone or cortisol metabolites (FCM) for stress assessment in animals. However, in faeces, these assays mainly detect immunoreactive glucocorticoid metabolites. Since different assays contain antibodies of different origin, the detection level and cross-reactivity towards different metabolites and other steroids differ considerably between assays.

Physiological and pathological impact of blood sampling by retro-bulbar sinus puncture and facial vein phlebotomy in laboratory mice.

Retro-bulbar sinus puncture and facial vein phlebotomy are two widely used methods for blood sampling in laboratory mice. However, the animal welfare implications associated with these techniques are currently debated, and the possible physiological and pathological implications of blood sampling using these methods have been sparsely investigated. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess and compare the impacts of blood sampling by retro-bulbar sinus puncture and facial vein phlebotomy.

Comparison of silicone and polyurethane catheters for the catheterization of small vessels in mice.

Vascular catheterization is increasingly carried out in laboratory mice, but the long-term patency of catheters implanted in mice is limited owing to their small size. The authors compared mice that were catheterized in their right common carotid artery either with a silicone catheter with a polyurethane tip or with a 100% polyurethane catheter to determine which catheter type was better suited for long-term studies in mice. The catheters were inspected daily and were flushed if blood was visible in the catheters; if no blood was visible, they were flushed every 3 d.

Impact of heparin and short term anesthesia on the quantification of cytokines in laboratory mouse plasma.

Background: Studies have reported that heparin may be unsuitable as an anticoagulant in human plasma samples when quantifying cytokines using multiplex bead array assays. For mouse samples, multiplex assays have been validated for serum and EDTA-plasma, but it remains to be elucidated whether heparin influences the quantification of cytokines, and if so - to what extent. Furthermore, laboratory mice are often anesthetized for blood sampling, which causes acute stress that may influence circulating cytokine concentrations and thus bias experimental results.

The effect of isoflurane anaesthesia and vasectomy on circulating corticosterone and ACTH in BALB/c mice.

The use of blood corticosterone and faecal corticosterone metabolites as biomarkers of post-surgical stress and pain in laboratory animals has increased during the last decade. However, many aspects of their reliability in laboratory mice remain uninvestigated. This study investigated serum corticosterone and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) in mice subjected to isoflurane anaesthesia and vasectomy, and mice subjected to isoflurane anaesthesia without surgery.

The effect of automated blood sampling on corticosterone levels, body weight and daily food intake in permanently catheterized male BALB/c mice.

Background/aim: Automated blood sampling has the benefit of sampling without human intervention, thus minimizing the associated stress response. Since this technique has not been thoroughly investigated in mice, the present study was designed to evaluate this technology in mice.

Materials And Methods: Male catheterized BALB/c mice were subjected to automated blood sampling, fecal sampling and daily recording of body weight and food intake for three days post-surgery.

Quantitative effects of diet on fecal corticosterone metabolites in two strains of laboratory mice.

The analysis of glucocorticoids excreted in feces is becoming a widespread technique for determining animal wellbeing in a wide variety of settings. In the present study an extraction protocol and an ELISA assay for quantifying fecal corticosterone metabolites (FCM) in BALB/c and C57bl/6 mice were validated. Lower ratios of solvent (ethanol) to mass of fecal sample were found to be sufficient in extracting FCM compared to what has been reported previously.

Postsurgical food and water consumption, fecal corticosterone metabolites, and behavior assessment as noninvasive measures of pain in vasectomized BALB/c mice.

Recognition of pain and stress is a common challenge when working with laboratory mice. The aim of the current study was to identify noninvasive parameters to assess the severity and duration of possible pain and stress after vasectomy in BALB/c mice. Mice underwent isoflurane anesthesia with or without vasectomy.