OOPS! We Need More Animals, Please..............
As amendments to protocols are approved we will periodically be updating this page with the reasons additional animals are required for use.
New - Jan. 9, 2008 - 02A0035 - Novel Treatment of Vestibular Schwannomas in the Mouse Xenograft Model - D. Bradly Welling
Don't know if this is an oops or an, if at first you don't succeed try, try again.
"We are requesting 15 animals(mice) for replacement of 15 that had complications due to subcutaneous pellet implantation. Of the 15 mice, 7 died and the other 8 had chronic sores at the site of the pellet implantation."
IACUC did question why they were repeating an experiment that already had complications and the PI responded by stating that the experimental procedures were actually going to change. "9 mice that were requested are to be used for implantation with the vestibular schwannoma tissue (xenografts), not pellets."
As well 5 mice died since the move from Wiseman to the Biomedical Research Tower. There is concern that their deaths may have been related to the move? Since hundreds of mice and rats have recently been moved to the Tower we'll be watching amendments to see understand if this is a wide spread issue.
Feb 8, 2007 - 02A0035 - Novel Treatment of Vestibular Schwannomas in the Mouse Xenograft Model - D. Bradly Welling
"We are requesting 11 animals for replacement of 11 that have died recently due to complications with the Avertin anesthetic. Seven of the animals did not wake up after being implanted with tumor because the anesthetic that was supplied had a concentration of twice the normal strength. Four other also died, two after simply anesthetizing them for MR imaging, and two after tumor implantation.These incidences were discussed with the veterinarian who felt the deaths were likely due to toxic metabolite formation in the Avertin. We have since changed our storage location to avoid freezing the anesthetic between uses, and we are not using Avertin that has been sitting for longer than two weeks. Since these changes have been made, we have not had any additional deaths."
April 12, 2007 - 01A0097 - The Chemical Basis of Ischemic Injury - Development of an Appropriate Model - Hamdy Awad
"The reason for ordering more animals (60 mice) is the high mortality rate recognized with the surgery, so we are shifting to another more safe technique for the surgery which we expect to give us better survival and more consistency with the results as recognized from our primary few trials with the new surgery technique."
October 23, 2006 - 2004A0155 - Altered M. tuberculosis mannosylation and the macrophage - Larry S. Schlesinger
"Discrepancy resulted primarily from difficulties in establishing a breeding colony. (adding 172 mice) Initially, few offspring survived and therefore it was necessary to increase the number of breeding pairs to firmly establish the colony and to provide agematched offspring for the aerosol experiment as described in the initial protocol. Also, we determined that the genotype was not correct and we needed to re-derive the wildtype colony. Such an expansion and subsequent success in the breeding program resulted in a large increase in mouse numbers."
July 26, 2006 - 2006A0080 - Prevention of Internal Hernias During Laparscopic Gastric Bypass with Bioabsorbable Seamguard Material - Dean J. Mikami
"Our original protocol did not factor in any loses in our study. To date, two animals have died following surgery. We would like to have an additional 10 animals (pigs) added to the protocol, only to be used if/when we incur loses due to death or early removal."
The IACUC approved with a comment saying, "The Committee recognizes that the high mortality rate assumed in this study is the result of laparoscopic fellows who are training to perform this type of surgery on these animals."
The protocol was initially approved to use 10 pigs.
June 29, 2006 - Noninvasive Prediction of Congestive Heart Failure in Dogs by Echo - Karsten E Schober
"Due to equipment failure the 5th study had to be stopped prematurely after the dog was anesthetized and fully instrumented. That dog recovered uneventfully and was adopted out on May 5th. No data could be acquired. In the meantime the technical issues are resolved, new equipment was bought. In order to successfully finish the project the study that failed needs to be repeated. For that purpose I ask permission to purchase and study an additional dog."
While IACUC was in the process of reviewing the amendment to use an additional dog the following was received from the P.I., " We had another failure wait a dog today because of technical issues today. The study is complicated and technical problems might just happen. Therefore, we did not do the experiment, but had some introducers in vessels with the dog under general anesthesia. The dog woke up uneventfully. The question: Am I allowed to use this dog next Wednesday for the full experiment for which the dog would still be suitable."
IACUC responded okay and authorized the addition of 1 dog to the protocol.
2004A0193 - The Role of Transplantation in CMV Reactivation - Charles H. Cook
"We have been having intermittent difficulties with our experimental model of acceptance. ... We will need to repeat many of the experiments done in the last 12 months for this reason."
The Committee asked for clarified and more information before approving the use of 200 additional mice. The P.I. replies:
"To detail the difficulties encountered, they have occurred sporadically over the past decade. For some reason, our model of cardiac allograft acceptance periodically stops working. We have exhaustively investigated these phenomena, with the assistance of Dr. Valerie Bergdall over as many years, and have been unsuccessful in elucidating a cause. We have assumed that it may be due to stress in the animal colony, but there currently is no way to detect, or prevent this.
An example of this has occurred recently, with the demolition of the building across the street from Wiseman Hall. Shortly after the demolition began, our experiments began showing signs of rejection when they shouldn't, and conversely, acceptance when they also shouldn't. We had a similar episode very shortly after approval of this protocol. During these times, unfortunately, we are forced to discard all the results that we obtain. We cannot predict when this phenomenon will start or end. Because of the unpredictability of this phenomenon. a number of things, not the least of which is valuable researchers time, as well as animals. We will continue to work closely with Dr. Bergdall to try to elucidate the cause, and then take steps to prevent it."
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March 7, 2006 - Protocol 2005A0191 - 4 additional dogs are required "due to unanticipated experiment-related technical failure and unanticipated equipment failure" So what happened?
"We found out after the fact that the oxygen electrodes that we used to measure tissue oxygen tension had been providing incorrect data. This problem was discovered during the post experiment calibration process. [isn't there a pre experiment calibration process?] We have contacted the manufacturer and they have provided us with a method and procedures to enter the computer software to determine oxygen electrode accuracy and precision during the experiment. This has corrected the problem and has prevented any further problems."
How easy it would have been to do all this work ahead of time, but at OSU animals are merely a means to an end. And when you can call up Robert Perry and have additional dogs delivered anytime you want, hey no problem at OSU.
Date the Dogs were Delivered to OSU Date Dogs were Killed
00A0091 - Photoperiodic Effects on Immune Function - Randy Nelson
For the 2nd time animals have had to reordered for this experiment due to building maintenance 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 accommodate 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."
The amendment to protocol 00A0142 was approved by ILACUC after ULAR verified the LAC problem. An additional 250 white-footed mice were approved for use.
2004A0110 - Breeding Colony of Collared Lemmings - Randy Nelson
An amendment dated 12/15/05 described why 200 additional lemmings have been requested. "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.
2003A0118 - Effects of diabetes on atrial function - Cynthia Carnes
Twenty-seven (27) additional rats requested because "we experienced unexpected technical difficulties with cardiomyocyte isolation...." "We had a higher than expected number of animals which required early removal due to excess weight loss. Consequently, we are reducing the dosage of streptozotocin."
Streptozotocin is used to create a chemically-induced diabetic animal.
2003A0153 - Omega-3 free fatty acids and atrial electrophyiologic remodeling - Cynthia Carnes
Four (4) additional dogs requested because "we had unexpected atrial fibrillation during four of the initial experiments. We initially thought this was due to the age of dogs. After modifying the age, the problem persisted. Therefore we are requesting a change in anesthetic regimen and an increase in the number of animals to replace those animals which were unexpectedly withdrawn from the study."
Carnes receives her dogs from Robert Perry, a USDA Class B animal dealer.
2003A0130 - Mycobacteria interactions and vaccine efficacy - Joanne Turner
April 05 - An additional 170 mice were requested "due to some unexpected mortality during our first experiment we were unable to complete the entire study, and also failed to get consistent findings between this and our other studies."
So ILACUC asked for further information and whether experimental manipulations were causative.
"The skin problems were associated with C57BL/6 mice supplied by Jackson Laboratories. C57BL/6 mice frequently develop ulcerative dermatitis and in our experiment this is most noticeable in mice purchased from Jackson. We experienced substantial ulcerative dermatitis in a single batch of mice that were purchased for one study. We euthanized many mice throughout the 5 month experimental period because the dermatitis resulted in open wounds. We do not maintain mice with even minor open wounds for ethical reasons and also because this can compromise our immunological findings. With mice that remained healthy for the study we experienced unusually large lymph nodes at necropsy which again compromised our data. Ulcerative dermatitis was present in all 4 experimental groups, including the control group that received no experimental manipulation for a 5 month period. Subsequent studies, with identical experimental protocols, were performed using C57BL/6 mice purchased from Charles River. No ulcerative dermatitis was observed, all mice remained healthy throughout the study, and at necropsy lymph nodes were small."
2003A0078 - CD8 T cells and immunity to tuberculosis in old mice - Joanne Turner
July 05 - An additional 330 mice as the experiment will be repeated 2 additional times "to verify that observations are reproducible."
Also:
"85 mice were used to repeat an experiment that failed. ...During the inhalation exposure of the mice to M. tuberculosis there was a building malfunction that resulted in the BSL3 facility becoming humidified and increase in temperature (May 19th 2004). Upon removal of the mice from the inhalation device it was found that the mice were slightly wet and noticeable lethargic. The mice were observed and appeared to recover however when we determined the bacterial load in the lung 14 days later it was apparent that the experiment had failed. This experiment has subsequently been repeated ..."
2003A0013 (2006A0019) - Signaling Proteins in Response to Inhaled Chemopreventive Drugs - Alan Dahl
Amendment Aug 10, 2004 to use an additional 640 mice
"The major part of the original protocol was completed with the unexpected result that there was no efficacy in prevention of lung cancer by inhaled 13-cis retinoic acid, although earlier studies carried out under different exposure conditions had shown efficacy. The earlier studies exposed mice to relatively high concentrations of ethanol vapor, which we believe, contributed to the observation that the mice gained weight at a much reduced rate compared to cage controls. In the just completed study, ethanol vapor was removed from the air stream and mice gained weight at normal rates. Caloric restriction is known to reduce cancer rates and we believe contributed to the success of the earlier study, specially by activating the retinoic acid receptor gene crucial to the efficacy of inhaled retinoic acid. To test this hypothesis, we have designed short term studies using changes in lung epithelial cell gene expression for an array of genes, including retinoic acid receptor genes."
We place this in oops because the results were unexpected and appeared to have been caused because of the ethanol vapors which are not mentioned in the original protocol. The retinoic acid was mixed with ethanolic sterile water.
Last Updated: 2/19/08