Handling small animals for veterinary and experimental procedures can negatively affect animal wellbeing. We hypothesized that playful handling (tickling) would decrease stress associated with repeated injections in adult laboratory rats, especially those with prior tickling...
A previous study showed that blood sampling either automatically, through a catheter, or by puncture of the tail vein is less stressful than facial vein phlebotomy in mice. We decided to investigate how facial vein...
Abnormal behavior, ranging from motor stereotypies to self‐injurious behavior, has been documented in captive nonhuman primates, with risk factors including nursery rearing, single housing, and veterinary procedures. Much of this research has focused on macaque...
Type 2 diabetes can be a problem for captive chimpanzees. Accurate blood glucose (BG) readings are necessary to monitor and treat this disease. Thus, obtaining voluntary samples from primates through positive reinforcement training (PRT) is...
The mouse is a commonly used species in liver research such as oncology, toxicology, and disease models. The ability to collect specimens of liver is vital to such research. Such studies require either a major...
Consistently accurate intravenous tail vein administration of radiopharmaceuticals in anesthetized mice is a critical component of successful PET/CT imaging in the preclinical setting. Injectable anesthetics are often not suitable for PET imaging and commercially available...
Advances in bioanalytic methods allow for accurate plasma drug level measurement in small sample volumes. Decreased sample volumes enable serial blood sample collection from one rodent, rather than terminal or sparse sampling from multiple rodents...
An effort to refine rodent blood collection techniques resulted in an examination of alternative methodologies to improve animal welfare and sample quality. Disease model or repeated sample collection resulted in inadequate sample volume, occasional hemolysis...
Obtaining quality blood samples while minimizing animal trauma related to venipuncture continues to be an important area of focus within the laboratory animal environment as it relates to both animal welfare and sample integrity. A...
Specific positioning for different imaging modalities is essential in our small animal imaging core. While we have different animal holders designed to position the animal inside the MRI, additional securing of the animal to the...