A Retrospective Report of Carprofen Administration as Post-Operative Analgesia Reveals Negative Effects of Recommended Doses.

Effective pain management in laboratory animals is crucial for both animal welfare and the reliability of scientific research. We retrospectively examined the effects of carprofen as post-operative analgesia in Sprague Dawley rats following stereotactic surgery. Our data indicate that administering carprofen twice daily (5 mg/kg), as currently recommended by /Society for Laboratory Animal Science (GV-SOLAS), led to adverse effects such as reduced food and water intake, disrupted fecal excretion, and abdominal bloating consistent with peritonitis.

Radiation tolerance of the rat spinal cord after 6 and 18 fractions of photons and carbon ions: experimental results and clinical implications.

Purpose: The tolerance of the rat spinal cord to photon and carbon ion irradiations was investigated to determine the relative biologic effectiveness (RBE) of carbon ions ((12)C) in the plateau region and in a 1 cm spread-out Bragg-peak.

Methods And Materials: The cranial part of the cervical and thoracic spinal cord of 336 rats was irradiated with 6 or 18 fractions (Fx) of photons or (12)C-ions, respectively. Animals were followed up for 300 days for the onset of paresis grade II and dose-response curves were calculated.