The US National Library of Medicine (NLM) - National Institutes of Health (NIH) states that appropriate science and animal care operate simultaneously. A troubled or unwell animal does not yield the consistent results a relaxed and healthy animal creates.
Understanding the comfort and enthusiasm of experimental laboratory mice allows researchers to enhance their outcomes and the animal’s care.1 This includes constructing a relaxed environment and preventing unintended pathogens from sabotaging a project’s integrity.
Multiple infectious agents have previously been identified as adversely affecting an animal’s health and a study’s result.1 Creating a comfortable, contagion-free habitat is crucial for specific pathogen-free (SPF) and non-SPF mice colonies.
The NLM NIH also claims that many microbial outbreaks are subclinical in mice, meaning laboratories must have a contemporary disinfection system and procedure to avoid disease, as early detection in mice is more challenging to measure.
This article explores ways to enhance the quality of life in laboratory mice and lower infectious disease risk. This combined method will help conserve research funds and reduce unwanted scientific variables.
Method
Vets and scientists must replicate living conditions and support thriving colonies to improve the quality of life in laboratory mice. Mice are active and curious and can be seen moving around the cage, drinking, eating, grooming, and cooperating with cage mates.1 This indicates that colonies are healthiest with high air quality and clean, dry bedding.
America’s oldest caging company, Lenderking Caging Products, recognized the need for a cage and rack system to allow researchers to expand cage change periods.
This approach decreases stress in mice and cuts costs spent on water, energy, labor, and consumable resources, such as food, bedding, and detergent. TOMI Environmental Solutions’ groundbreaking disinfection system, SteraMist™, using Binary Ionizing Technology® (BIT™), offered the optimum disinfection technique.
This disinfection tool kills infectious pathogens without toxic chemicals when in contact. Below is a comprehensive summary of two pioneering systems.
Lenderking’s Comfort Cage Hygieia
This individually ventilated cage (IVC) and rack system for mice has been developed to cut research costs and offer healthy ammonia-free conditions for research subjects and researchers. The patented design delivers HEPA-filtered air beneath a perforated raised floor suspended above the cage’s plastic base.
The bedding and enrichment materials rest on the elevated floor, which has 7,000 tiny holes to deliver the airflow through the bedding. This layout is called the FlowThru™ Bedding design.
Getting the airflow into the cage under the bedding level enables Hygieia to uphold a micro-environment with substantially reduced ammonia levels using 75 % less airflow than other available IVCs.
Standard IVCs necessitate 60 air changes per hour (ACH) and cage changes every 10 to 14 days to sustain healthy conditions. In a study conducted at the University of Maryland, Hygieia could increase cage change intervals to 33 days on fully loaded cages of five adult females or two adult females and their litters using 15 ACH.
Mice demonstrated no aggressive behavior, ate and drank normally, and displayed no dermatitis symptoms or other effects on their coat. Serology panels highlighted no infection, indicating that the HEPA filters associated with Hygieia worked properly.
Histology analysis of the nose, lung, and throat tissues from 23 representative animals, including all pup samples born inside Hygieia, showed standard results.
SteraMist BIT
TOMI Environmental Solutions, Inc. is an international bacteria decontamination and infectious disease control company that offers ecological solutions for indoor surface sanitization.
Its primer disinfection system, SteraMist BIT, was developed alongside the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency due to Amerithrax (anthrax attacks) post-9/11. The patented two-step process initiates and ionizes a 7.8 % hydrogen peroxide (HP) solution, creating a fine mist named Activated Ionized HP (AIHP).
AIHP contains a high concentration of reactive oxygen species, primarily composed of hydroxyl radicals, which harm pathogenic organisms via protein, carbohydrate, and lipid oxidation.
This causes cellular disruption and/or dysfunction and disinfects targeted areas and large spaces. Using the SteraMist Surface Unit, Comfort Cage Hygieia could be rapidly and efficiently completely disinfected.
Influence
The Comfort Cage Hygieia’s and SteraMist BIT’s user-friendly designs ensure precise and rapid setup for the following experiment. Unlike many other available IVCs, the Hygieia requires no disassembling ducts, plenums, ports, or anything attached to the rack.
The horizontal supply and exhaust ducts allow the SteraMist AIHP mist to travel the entire 7 ft duct and visibly exit through the opposite side in less than two seconds. In an individual cage attached to the rack center, biological indicator strips recorded a 106 decrease in organisms in the cage.
One vertical plenum is opened to obtain autoclave-level kills within an entire row of cages attached to the rack, with the opposite plenum staying shut. This will enable SteraMist to enter all eight cages in one straight line.
Image Credit: SteraMist Disinfection and Decontamination Technology
Conclusion
Scientists can now double cage change intervals so mice are handled less, decreasing their stress levels and lowering the mistakes that often happen during cage changes.
Following a successful 33-day no-cage-change study, SteraMist BIT achieved widespread disinfection. While decontaminating animal racks and cages, SteraMist BIT can safely disinfect all laboratory apparatus and rooms.
About SteraMist Disinfection and Decontamination Technology
SteraMist is a global line of powerful disinfection and decontamination products and services that utilizes patented ionized Hydrogen Peroxide (iHP) technology.
Our scientific expertise, innovation, and dedication to creating a safer world through cutting-edge iHP technology allow SteraMist to serve our customers and industries with trusted products, leading to a smarter way to decontaminate and control infectious diseases.
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