Nelson protocols using hamsters.
2004A0111 - Torpor and Immune Function
"Torpor is defined as a short period of time during which an animals metabolism, body temperature, and activity dramatically drop."
The torpor hamsters will be placed in a low temperature room (41 degrees) and will be food restricted. Some will be injected with LPS to induce fever.
As always all animals will killed following the experiment.
2004A0034 - Photoperiodism and Fluctuating Asymmetry
Investigate seasonal changes during pregnancy and how that influences the asymmetry of the pups.
00A0091 - Photoperiodic Effects On Immune Function
Update: This protocol was approved
for another six years under protocol number 2006A0143
The animals approved to use are from breeding protocols and will use 64 lemmings, 200 siberian hamsters, and 40 deer mice.
Update: Nelson and DeVries received a warm and fuzzy piece in The Columbus Dispatch, January 10, 2006. Somehow they missed that he has used 560 hamster, 1,652 deer mice, and 350 mice in this experiment. The piece is entitled, Light, dark and hamster happiness
Update: The OSU Lantern ran a story today (1/12/06), More light, exercise can help winter depression and guess what. No animals were used to understand that "seasonal affective disorder is a mood disorder, similar to depression, with symptoms that are directly related to seasonal variations of light." And "the treatment depends on the severity of the symptoms presented with SAD. Some people need only to maximize their exposure to natural daylight by opening blinds and taking walks outside during the day. 'Exercise, eating right, and adhering to a schedule helps,' Saveanu said."
Clearly it's time to let the hamsters free!
Update: Another hamster story this time in Lantern. The article, Hamsters have winter blues, begins:
All she wants to do this winter is stuff her face, curl up in a ball and sleep. Forget exercise, eating or playing - nothing helps. Unfortunately, her roommates chatter and scurry around, keeping her awake and anxious.
Life is tough for the hamster with seasonal affective disorder.
Tinkerbell, a Syrian hamster, lives with Jennifer Lau, a visual communications major.
Lau, who suffers from SAD, might have more in common with her hamster than most people and their pets.
"I have noticed she (Tinkerbell) sleeps more in the winter," said Lau. "She doesn't wake up to run on the wheel."
Perhaps, as an Ohio State study suggests, the same lack of sunlight that triggers winter depression in Lau also triggers it in Tinkerbell.
Actually Tinkerbell is lucky not to be in the Nelson study because if she was he'd have killed her by now.
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As a result of the article mentioned above, Dr. Michael Fox forwarded us the following statement:
This research project by neuroscientists dramatically illustrates their ignorance ! of hamster behavior and physiology. With shortening photoperods and lower temperatures, hamsters naturally HIBERNATE. They are NOT depressed. To fabricate such an animal model for human depression and SAD is bad science, and unethical animal exploitation. Forcing the animals to swim until they float in total exhaustion is a model not of human despair/depression, but of human cruelty and ignorance.
M.W. Fox D.Sc., Ph.D., B.Vet. Med., M.R.C.V.S.
http://tedeboy.tripod.com/drmichaelwfox/index.html
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This protocol swings back and forth between using deer mice and hamsters. The goal is to "understand the effects of natural stressors on immune function, and to determine the effects of certain hormones, leptin and melatonin, in mediating these effects." Or how a protocol changes based upon the stress given to the animals and whether they perform as planned.
The Animal Numbers Soar
April 2001 (stressing with illness introduced) November 2001 (stress & wound healing) March 2002 (illness & behavioral and cognitive testing) April 2003 - 3rd year review * April 2004 July 2003 (will they respond to photoperiod) October 7, 2004 (new hormone) October 7, 2004 (prior induced immune activity on subsequent immune activity) October 8, 2004 (life history characteristics & immune function) October 22, 2004 (replacing hamsters approved earlier "due to a lack of sufficient stock of this species in our lab and elsewhere.") January 2005 (short days and illness) March 2005 (surgical manipulation, short days, & reproductive development) March 2005 (induced fever effect on energy expenditure) April 2005 (ambient temperature & season of birth on immune function) July 2005 (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis-EAE introduced into protocol) September 2005 (see below) September 2005 (see below) December 2005 - "are more appropriate models for our proposed work" (the deer mice numbers are NOT reduced) July 2006 - a procedural chg which will inject "in the right footpad Complete Freund's Adjuvant..."
From the OSU Guidelines - post injection
Investigators and veterinary staff should observe animals for evidence of pain or distress, and for evidence of lesions such as swelling, abscess or fistula formation, and infection or ulceration at the immunization sites. Follow-up should include clinical observations and palpations of the injected sites with emphasis on determining the necessity for any supportive therapy.
August 2006 - "6-MBOA has been shown to be an indicator of early spring in small rodents. ... The purpose of this study is to determine whether 6MBOA is a cue that influences the functioning of the immune system..." April 2007 - infect with LPS some mice housed long days some short days - why is Nelson doing this?
"our data suggests that inflammatory responses in general and neuroinflammatory responses in aprticular are enhanced by short day lengths. This may contribute to the greater incidence of death following cardiovascular incidents in the winter. Our goal is to directly assess the neuroinflammatory response to acute inflammation in animals housed in long days and short."
Realize when he mentions "cardiovascular incidents" he is talking about people. So this study may - the animal reseachers favorite word - help people who have heart issues in the winter. How? I guess we'll watch the animals die and find out.
August 2007 - understand "pre-emptive defenses that rodents might use to avoid infection in the first place." In this case with shortened days will the hamsters ignore signals of bacterial infection (found of items as rotting fruit - butyric acid) and eat the food anyway. * "These animals are required to replace animals that were damaged (is that like they died?) by the cold spell last winter when our heating failed. No new procedures are planned. We are simply trying to recoup our losses."
The Experiments Morph
Some modifications you can tell just from the animal requests above but let's look closer.
Amendment approved August 2005 (no new animals added today) in their own words
Studies from our lab and the lab of Dr. DeVries indicate that cutaneous wound heal faster when monogamous animals are pair-housed versus housed singly. One way such a result might occur is by animals licking the wounds of conspecifics, subsequently improving the rate of healing due to antimicrobial peptides and/or anti-inflammatory compounds in saliva. We propose to examine rates of wound healing in Siberian hamsters wounded in areas that allow access to licking (flank) versus areas that cannot be reached (between scapulae). Also, based upon other work, we expect that rates of wound healing may also be different depending on the side of the body (left or right) that is wounded, as some work indicates that components of the immune system are asymmetrical.
Approval (9/05) from ILACUC for sixty-four (64) male Siberian hamsters to continue the study of LPS (lipopolysaccharide) which at the dosage proposed is "sufficient to induce an acute phase response including sickness behavior, weight loss and fever but does not induce mortality in this species."
The collared lemming is an ideal choice for study because it is "physiologically similar to commonly studied rodent species, but unique enough to shed novel insight into the mechanistic basis of immunological seasonality."
Lemming Update from amendment to 2004A0110 approved 12/15/05 for 200 lemmings
Protocol 2004A0110 is a breeding protocol for the lemmings. Twelve breeding pairs arrived at OSU August 10, 2004 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. But ....
"the lemming colony was derived from animals at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. When the animals originally arrived we lost a substantial portion of them within the first month." No reason for their deaths is provided and I guess necessary for ILACUC to make the decision to approve the amendment.
Additional information on problems at LAC Building #1 UPDATE 3/6/06
For the 2nd time animals have had to reordered for this experiment due to building maintanance problems at the Lab Animal Center Building #1 at Godown Road.
The first incident was in the winter of 2002/2003. In the 3rd year review it is noted:
"These animals (144 mice & 208 dwarf hamsters) are required to replace animals that were damaged by the cold spell last winter when our heating failed. No new procedures are planned. We are simply trying to recoup our losses. Presumably, the trailers will be available before next winter, so our animals will be moved to stable conditions."
POET is unaware if the trailers ever arrived at LAC because on main campus there is a shortage of areas to house rodents. Trailers have been setup on main campus near Graves to accommadate the increase in animals used in experiments.
"Room 29 Lab Animal Center Building #1 had intermittent temperature problems on September 19 & 20, 2005 with high temperatures and on October 4 & 5, 2005 with low temperatures. The problems were quickly addressed by the Physical Facilities staff. No animals died due to the temperature problems. As a result, the experiments were invalidated. The rodents on that study could no longer be used due to the stress which affects this type of research over the long term. The rodents were humanely euthanized and the project was restarted with new animals. The animals on the project are going to be moved from Building 1 to a Main Campus animal care facility."
But animals can not be moved until construction has completed on main campus. Which completes ...Just as a PS. When this lab is closed the only animals that would have been left at this complex were Sally Boysen's chimps.
Update: 11/06/07 - so many amendments, so many updates
