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Biomedical subjects

Michael J Huerkamp

Publications and source records attributed to Michael J Huerkamp.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Ketamine-xylazine-acepromazine anesthesia and postoperative recovery in rats.

We evaluated the effect of ketamine-xylazine-acepromazine anesthesia (31.25, 6.25, and 1.25 mg/kg subcutaneously, respectively) on postsurgical recovery in male Sprague-Dawley (Crl:SD) rats undergoing laparotomy with and without the postoperative analgesic ketorolac. Recovery was determined by changes in body weight (BW) and water intake. The time of ketorolac administration (5 mg/kg intramuscularly), 60 min after anesthetic injection, was based on return of the pedal withdrawal reflex in Long-Evans (HsdBlu:LE) rats undergoing stereotaxic surgery in a separate experiment. Results were compared with those of housing and anesthesia controls as well as of laparotomized rats receiving a single sugared treat for nonpharmacologic management of postoperative pain. Surgery took place on day 0; the first 24 h postsurgery was considered the "acute phase," and days 1 through 4 comprised the "recovery phase." Results suggest that 1) the anesthetic mixture is fast- and long-acting and provides sufficient immobility, loss of consciousness, and analgesia; 2) during the acute phase, rats subjected to laparotomy did not lose more BW than rats exposed to anesthesia alone; 3) water intake during both phases did not significantly differ between treatment groups; 4) postsurgical ketorolac administration did not minimize BW loss during the acute phase nor cause any adverse effects under this anesthetic regimen; and 5) provision of single sugared treats had salutary effects on BW recovery. This finding suggests that postsurgical BW loss after use of this anesthetic mixture is due to distress unrelated to pain; this nonpain distress may have masked potential beneficial effects of ketorolac.

Acepromazine↗
PubMed2006

Job dynamics of veterinary professionals in an academic research institution. I. Retention and turnover of veterinary technicians.

The turnover of veterinary technicians within an animal resources program averaged 33% annually over 18 y, peaking at 67% in 1998 to 1999. Insufficient retention of veterinary technicians led to diversion of veterinarian effort to technical tasks and to increased allocation of administrative resources for supervising and managing an expanding team of veterinary technicians. To identify factors and trends related to poor retention, address any causes, and reduce turnover, a retrospective analysis of employment records was done. The retention of veterinary technicians was significantly greater for the 9 technicians hired from veterinary private practice rather than for any of 3 other general sources: promotions from the animal care staff, transfers from other research institutions, and miscellaneous sources. Veterinary technician turnover was reduced from a mean of 60% over 1995 to 1999 to an average of 26% during 2000 to 2004. Higher retention was associated with management practices that included renewed concentration on recruiting and interviewing strategies and emphasis on training and career development including merit raises for technician certification through the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science. Higher retention yielded correspondingly greater experience on the job as the mean tenure increased from 1.1 y in 2000 to 2.8 y in 2004. The most valued attributes related to employment by veterinary technicians as determined by survey were to do meaningful work, earn a good living, and have a committed team of coworkers.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed2006

Job dynamics of veterinary professionals in an academic research institution. II. Veterinary technician attendance, absenteeism, and pay distribution.

To understand and better manage attendance and overtime for a team of veterinary technicians, a retrospective analysis of the attendance and time card records was done over a 2-y period. The findings show that veterinary technicians were in the workplace for a combination of straight time and overtime hours for approximately 89% of all compensated hours. The remainder of paid compensation was for vacation (4%), holidays (4%), and sick leave (3%). This team of veterinary technicians earned significantly more overtime hours, as much as 9% of total annual compensated hours, than the reported 3% standard for animal resources programs nationwide. The majority of overtime hours (61%) were for assigned weekend and holiday duty and after-hours veterinary medical emergencies. Veterinary technicians expended sick leave at 75% of the amount accrued and at a statistically significantly rate 65% higher than the national average for unscheduled absences for hourly personnel in animal resources programs. Because the direct cost of absenteeism may exceed 645 dollars per employee annually and because work inappropriately done at premium pay outside of business hours is a controllable expense, sound management of attendance and overtime is important in cost containment for animal resources programs.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed2006

Investigation of appropriate sanitization frequency for rodent caging accessories: evidence supporting less-frequent cleaning.

The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals states that sanitization of caging accessories (for example, filter tops and wire-bar lids) should be done every 2 wk. In this study we tested the hypothesis that organic contamination measured by the presence of ATP associated with organic material (measured with luciferase test swabs) and the number of bacterial colony-forming units (as determined by use of replicate organism detection and counting plates) on caging accessories did not differ significantly at 2 wk versus several months of use. The study evaluated 4 groups: mouse and rat ventilated and static wire-bar cages with or without filter tops (n = 10 per group). The cages were evaluated at several time points from 2 wk to 6 mo. For every cage type, ATP levels did not differ significantly between 14 and 90 d and, in most cases, between 14 and 180 d. In addition the number of bacterial colonies did not differ significantly between 14 and 120 d (and, in some cases, between 14 and 180 d). This study provides data relevant to establishing a validated frequency for sanitization of rodent caging accessories while controlling, and potentially decreasing, costs associated with sanitization.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

A single dose of topical moxidectin as an effective treatment for murine acariasis due to Myocoptes musculinus.

Murine fur mites are reported to exist in over one-third of research institutions and can be problematic to eliminate. Current treatment strategies can be labor-intensive, toxic, and may confound research studies. The ideal method would be technically simple, safe, effective, and relatively inexpensive. When we found that mice from a noncommercial vendor were infested with Myocoptes musculinus, the animals were treated topically with Cydectin pour-on (containing moxidectin 0.5%) at 0.5 [corrected] mg/kg. After one treatment, mites were eradicated from all infested mice. No toxic effects or clinical signs of illness were observed in the mice. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of topical moxidectin as a treatment for murine acariasis.

Animal Husbandry↗
PubMed2005

Cross-fostering in combination with ivermectin therapy: a method to eradicate murine fur mites.

A colony of mutant mice with sickle cell anemia was infested with the fur mites Myocoptes musculinus and Myobia musculi. Pups of sickle-cell phenotype obtained by cesarean section prior to natural birth were of such poor vigor that none survived the combined insults of delivery by hysterectomy and cross-fostering. Consequently, surgical rederivation, the most reliable means of mite eradication, was not an option. Because furless mice are not susceptible to mite infestation and because neonates putatively remain free of mites until 4 to 5 days after birth, pups born by natural delivery were cross-fostered within 0 to 36 h to outbred lactating females treated once with ivermectin (2 mg/kg topically) at the time of transfer and housed in filter-top cages. Cross-fostering in conjunction with topical ivermectin administered to weaned mice one or more times at approximate 9-day intervals beginning on the day of weaning was successful in reliably eradicating mites. In addition, the 58% postnatal survivability of pups cross-fostered to dams given ivermectin was equivalent to that of natural-born pups that were reared by their untreated biological mothers.

Animal Husbandry↗
PubMed2004

Long-term results of dietary fenbendazole to eradicate Syphacia muris from rat colonies.

The pinworm Syphacia muris was eradicated from rats after treatment with fenbendazole-medicated chow (150 ppm) and without environmental decontamination for > 54 months. However, this regimen was successful only when the treatment was delivered and efficacy monitoring was done by personnel of the institutional animal resources program. The same pinworm elimination program failed 7 to 24 months after the cessation of treatment in a satellite colony in which animal care, including provision of medicated diet and sample collection for efficacy monitoring, was provided by research personnel. A failure to uniformly deliver adequate therapeutic doses or reinoculation of rats with pinworm eggs from the contaminated environment could not be excluded as causes of the failure. However, there were risk factors, and animal care practices unique to the satellite colony that may have facilitated the re-emergence of pinworms. These risk factors included hand-washing of cages, storage of contact bedding in areas that were not vermin-proof, and animal care provided by personnel having contact with rodents of pet-store origin.

Animal Husbandry↗
PubMed2004

Rodent vendor apparent source of mouse parvovirus in sentinel mice.

Mouse parvovirus (MPV) has been increasingly prevalent in laboratory animal facilities, and the source of infection often can be difficult to determine. After 4 years of sporadic MPV detected in our sentinel mice and continual failure to identify index cases in colony mice, we developed a regimen to house newly arrived vendor mice in large sterile cages with a high stocking density. Some of these mice were retained in isolation after the remaining mice were deployed as sentinels. After detecting MPV seropositive sentinel mice 4 weeks after introduction to the mouse colonies in one facility, the remaining naïve mice that had been previously housed with those sentinels also tested positive for MPV, despite never having been exposed to colony mice. These results suggest that commercially bred mice intended for use as sentinels may, in fact, arrive at animal facilities already infected with MPV. Depending upon numerous factors, including the health surveillance methods used, it is possible that a low prevalence of MPV may exist undetected at rodent vendors.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Confirmed persistent mouse hepatitis virus infection and transmission by mice with a targeted null mutation of tumor necrosis factor to sentinel mice, using short-term exposure.

Mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) infection in immunocompetent mice is typically self limiting, and transmission is short lived. With the recent surge in the development of genetically engineered mutant mice with alterations in immune system components, however, MHV clearance may be disrupted. We report confirmed persistent transmission of MHV from tumor necrosis factor (TNF) knockout mice, B6.129S1-Tnftm1Lj (TNF -/-), to nude and immunocompetent sentinel mice over a period of five months. Infection with MHV was confirmed in nude sentinel mice by use of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) detection of viral RNA in ascending colon and feces. The RT-PCR-analyzed specimens recovered from sentinel animals were sequenced, and 92% homology to the N region of the MHV strain S genome was documented. In addition, immunocompetent mice had evidence of seroconversion to MHV infection and RT-PCR-positive fecal and ascending colon specimens after only 24 h of direct contact with the TNF -/- mice. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported experimental evidence that MHV transmission can occur for several months, from persistently infected mice to sentinel mice, over a short-term exposure period.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Alcohol as a disinfectant for aseptic surgery of rodents: crossing the thin blue line?

Recently, the use of alcohol (i.e., ethanol or isopropanol) has been discouraged as disinfectants for survival surgical procedures for rats and mice because of perceptions of inadequacy of killing of bacterial spores and lack of efficacy in the presence of organic debris. However, spore-forming bacteria are a minor (essentially nonexistent) threat for causing postoperative infections in rats and mice (but not necessarily hamsters, guinea pigs, or other rodents), and organic debris, with appropriate effort, can be removed from soiled instruments by using physical scrubbing. Although the metal-corrosive properties of alcohol and the lengthy times needed for adequate disinfection are drawbacks, there are essentially no microbiologically relevant reasons to discourage disinfection by ethanol or isopropanol in rat and mouse surgery.

2-Propanol↗