LABORATORY ANIMALS-1

RANJAN KUMAR M
ASST. PROF
N.C.P
BENGALURU-85.
 CPCSEA (Committee for the Purpose of Control & Supervision on Experiments
on Animals) GUIDELINES FOR LABORATORY ANIMAL FACILITY
• These guidelines are intended to help those responsible for the care of laboratory
animals and for designing and constructing animal facilities.
• In scientific work involving live animals the most reliable results are likely to be
obtained by using healthy animals that are well adapted to their housing conditions
and, in quantitative assays or comparisons, precision is increased if those animals are
uniform. The guidelines are based on current knowledge and practice and as
knowledge develops they may need to be amended.
• "Any animal used or intended for use in a procedure shall be provided with
accommodation, an environment, at least a minimum of freedom of movement, food,
water and care, appropriate to its health and well-being. Any restriction on the extent
to which an animal can satisfy its physiological and ethological needs shall be
limited as far as practicable.
• In the implementation of this provision, regard should be paid to the guidelines for
accommodation and care of animals set out in Appendix A to this Convention."
 Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) for animal facilities is intended to
assure quality maintenance and safety of animals used in laboratory
studies while conducting biomedical and behavioral research and
testing of products.

GOAL
The goal of these Guidelines is to promote the humane care of animals
used in biomedical and behavioral research and testing with the basic
objective of providing specifications that will enhance animal well
being, quality in the pursuit of advancement of biological knowledge
that is relevant to humans and animals.
VETERINARY CARE
Adequate veterinary care must be provided and is the responsibility of a
veterinarian or a person who has training or experience in laboratory animal
sciences and medicine.
Daily observation of animals can be accomplished by someone other than a
veterinarian; however, a mechanism of direct and frequent communication
should be adopted so that timely and accurate information on problems in
animal health, behavior, and well being is conveyed to the attending
veterinarian.
The veterinarian can also contribute to the establishment of appropriate
policies and procedures for ancillary aspects of veterinary care, such as
reviewing protocols and proposals, animal husbandry and animal welfare;
monitoring occupational health hazards containment, and zoonosis control
programs; and supervising animal nutrition and sanitation. Institutional
requirements will determine the need for full-time or part-time or
consultative veterinary services.
ANIMAL PROCUREMENT
All animals must be acquired lawfully as per the CPCSEA
guidelines. A health surveillance program for screening incoming
animals should be carried out to assess animal quality. Methods of
transportation should also be taken into account (Annexure – 4).
Each consignment of animals should be inspected for compliance
with procurement specifications, and the animals should be quarantined
and stabilized according to procedures appropriate for the species and
circumstances.
QUARANTINE, STABILIZATION AND SEPARATION
Quarantine is the separation of newly received animals from those already in
the facility until the health and possibly the microbial status of the newly received
animals have been determined. An effective quarantine minimizes the chance for
introduction of pathogens into an established colony. A minimum duration of
quarantine for small lab animals is 1 week and larger animals is 6 weeks (cat, dog,
monkey, etc.)
Regardless of the duration of quarantine, newly received animals should be
given a period for physiologic, psychologic and nutritional stabilization before
their use. The length of time stabilization will depend on the type and duration of
animal transportation, the species involved and the intended use of the animals.
Physical separation of animals by species is recommended to prevent
interspecies disease transmission and to eliminate anxiety and possible
physiological and behavioral changes due to interspecies conflict. In some
instances, it shall be acceptable to house different species in the same room, for
example, if two species have a similar pathogen status and are behaviorally
 SURVEILLANCE, DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT & CONTROL OF
DISEASE
All animals should be observed for signs of illness, injury, or abnormal
behavior by animal house staff. As a rule, this should occur daily, but more-
frequent observations might be warranted, such as during postoperative
recovery or when animals are ill or have a physical deficit. It is imperative
that appropriate methods be in place for disease surveillance and diagnosis
(Annexure 1 & 2).
Unexpected deaths and signs of illness, distress, or other deviations from
normal health condition in animals should be reported promptly to ensure
appropriate and timely delivery of veterinary medical care. Animals that show
signs of a contagious disease should be isolated from healthy animals in the
colony. If an entire room of animals is known or believed to be exposed to an
infectious agent (e.g. Mycobacterium tuberculosis in non-human primates),
the group should be kept intact and isolated during the process of diagnosis,
treatment, and control. Diagnostic clinical laboratory may be made available.
ANIMAL CARE AND TECHNICAL PERSONNEL
Animal care programs require technical and husbandry support. Institutions
should employ people trained in laboratory animal science or provide for both
formal and on-the-job training to ensure effective implementation of the
program.
PERSONAL HYGIENE
It is essential that the animal care staff maintain a high standard of personal
cleanliness. Facilities and supplies for meeting this obligation should be
provided e.g. showers, change of uniforms, footwear etc. institutional facilities
should be used to de-contaminate clothing exposed to potentially hazardous
microbial agents or toxic substances.
In some circumstances, it is acceptable to use disposable gear such as gloves,
masks, head covers, coats, coveralls and shoe covers. Personal should change
clothing as often as is necessary to maintain personal hygiene. Personnel should
not be permitted to eat, drink, smoke or apply cosmetics in animal rooms. A
 ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION INVOLVING HAZARDOUS
AGENTS
Institutions should have policies governing experimentation with
hazardous agents. Institutional Biosafety Committee whose members
are knowledgeable about hazardous agents are in place in most of the
higher-level education, research institutes and in many pharmaceutical
industries for safety issues. This committee shall also examine the
proposal on animal experiments involving hazardous agents in addition
to its existing functions.
Since the use of animals in such studies requires special
consideration, the procedures and the facilities to be used must be
reviewed by both the Institutional Biosafety committee and Institutional
Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC).
MULTIPLE SURGICAL PROCEDURES ON SINGLE
ANIMAL
Multiple surgical procedures on a single animal for any
testing or experiment are not to be practiced unless specified
in a protocol only approved by the IAEC.

DURATIONS OF EXPERIMENTS
No animal should be used for experimentation for more than
3 years unless adequate justification is provided.
PHYSICAL RESTRAINT
Brief physical restraint of animals for examination, collection of
samples, and a variety of other clinical and experimental manipulations
can be accomplished manually or with devices be suitable in size and
design for the animal being held and operated properly to minimize
stress and avoid injury to the animal.
Prolonged restraint of any animal, including the chairing of non-
human primates, should be avoided unless essential to research
objectives. Less restrictive systems, such as the tether system or the
pole and collar system should be used when compatible with research
objectives.
PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIP OF ANIMAL FACILITIES TO
LABORATORIES
Good animal husbandry and human comfort and health protection require
separation of animal facilities from personnel areas such as offices,
conference rooms, and most laboratories.
Laboratory animals are very sensitive to their living conditions. It is
important that they shall be housed in an isolated building located as far
away from human habitations as possible and not exposed to dust, smoke,
noise, wild rodents, insects and birds. The building, cages and
environment of animal rooms are the major factors affecting the quality of
animals.
 This separation can be accomplished by having the animal quarters in a
separate building, wing, floor, or room. Careful planning should make it
possible to place animal housing areas adjacent to or near laboratories, but
separated from them by barriers such as entry locks, corridors, or floors.
In planning an animal facility the space should be well divided for
various activities.
The animal rooms should occupy about 50-60% of the total
constructed area and the remaining area should be utilized for
services such as stores, washing, office and staff, machine rooms,
quarantine and corridors.
The environment of animal room (Macro-Environment) and animal
cage (Microenvironment) are factors on which the production and
experimental efficiency of the animal depends.
Since animals are very sensitive to environmental changes, sharp
fluctuations in temperature, humidity, light, sound and ventilation
should be avoided.
(These are infections that are spread between people &
animals)
Breeding
Most of the common laboratory animals such as mice, rats, guinea
pigs, & rabbits can be bred & reared under ideal conditions to provide a
reliable supply of uniform & healthy animals for the purpose of
experimentation.
Dogs & cats, however, can be obtained from outside sources as &
when required, but it is always better to keep them under quarantine for
a week before they are utilized.
Ethical requirements:
In order to make judicious use of animals for experimental purposes,
scientific societies & institutions have put forth ethical guidelines for
investigators.
It is mandatory to have institutional or departmental ethical
committees & to have the approval of experimental protocols.
There is a growing concern on the use as well as misuse of animals
for experimental purposes.
Ethical committees are expected to provide guidelines for proper
breeding & storage facilities & protection against inhumane treatment
meted to animals.
d) Multiple-point bioassay: The multiple-point bioassay could be:
i. Three-point bioassay, where 2 responses of standard drug & one
response due to test sample are taken into consideration. The test
response should be intermediate between the two responses due to
the standard drug.
ii. Four-point bioassay, where 2 responses of standard drug & 2
responses of test substance are made.
iii. Six-point bioassay, where 3 concentrations of standard drug & 3
concentrations of test substances are used.