Archibald, W., Glynn, C. 2021. Refining cages for social housing of non-human primates on ADME studies. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(2), 172-174.

The assessment and understanding of Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Elimination (ADME) for new pharmaceuticals is required in regulatory submissions. Typically, ADME studies are conducted using metabolism cages designed for the single housing of animals to enable the quantitative collection of urine and faeces, normally over a 1week period. It is well documented that providing pair or group housing of social animals such as non-human primates has a significant positive impact on the welfare of the animals. Charles River, Edinburgh have successfully performed many ADME studies with pair housed animals, with radioactivity recovery and plasma concentrations comparable to single housing. As traditional single housing cages are relatively small, we designed new and larger cages with improved features. In addition to the welfare benefits for the animals with social housing, the refinements enable more efficient study conduct, dosing, blood sampling and faecal collections. This poster describes the new cage design and some of the advantages of the enhancements we have made.

Year
2021
Setting