Development of Individual Chambers for Alcohol Delivery

描述（由申请方提供）：暴露实验啮齿动物的能力 对研究至关重要。目前， 所用的方法包括重复注射，喂养动物， 液体饮食含有酒精，或群体住房，他们在大房间， 其中酒精蒸气被循环。这些方法的缺点包括 存在压力程序、饮食不足和/或无法 当它们处于蒸气环境中时，可以接触到单个动物。下 在第一阶段，我们开发了一个原型， 一个个老鼠笼子，我们可以在里面流通已知量的酒精， 蒸汽这个系统使我们能够绘制出血液酒精含量的图表 水平（巴尔斯）与预先确定的酒精输送参数相匹配。二期将 扩展在第一阶段成功探索的科学思想。作为 研究人员使用不同的大鼠品系，包括雄性和雌性， 治疗他们的动物几天，我们将制定图表的男性和 雌性（处女和妊娠）Sprague-Dawley、Wistar和Long-Evans大鼠。 这是必要的，因为酒精代谢因菌株而异， 怀孕期间的性别和变化。因此，我们不能假设， 在第一阶段编制的图表适用于其他模式。我们还将 修改现有的老鼠原型，使腔室可以容纳食物 支架和水瓶，以及插管的出口，而完整性 在长期居住期间保持系统的稳定性。放注射器的架子 和/或记录仪器将被建造，安装在腔室上。 最后，我们发现在大鼠室中饲养的小鼠具有非常异质的巴尔斯。 因此，我们工作的一个重要方面将是建立会议室， 老鼠，一种越来越多地用于酒精研究的物种， 需要重新设计系统以适应其较小的尺寸。一旦这个 新的设计已经确定，我们将开发相关参数的图表 在三种常用品系的小鼠中， BALB/c、C57BL/6和DBA/2。大鼠和小鼠成品将代表 与现有系统相比有很大的改进。将 多功能、用户友好且价格实惠。虽然最初是为酒精设计的 工作，我们预计，它将很容易修改为其他挥发性， 非腐蚀性物质，包括目前难以研究的物质 因为它们有剧毒。 拟定商业应用： 不可用

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability to expose experimental rodents to alcohol over periods of hours to days is crucial to research. At present, the methods used to do so include repeated injections, feeding the animals a liquid diet containing alcohol, or group-housing them in large chambers through which alcohol vapors are circulated. The disadvantages of these methods include the presence of a stressful procedure, an inadequate diet and/or the inability to access individual animals while they are in the vapor environment. Under Phase I, we developed a prototype that showed the feasibility of building individual rat cages through which we could circulate known amount of alcohol vapors. This system allowed us to develop charts which correlated blood alcohol levels (BALs) to pre-determined parameters of alcohol delivery. Phase II will expand the scientific ideas successfully explored under Phase I. As investigators use different rat strains, both males and females, and want to treat their animals for several days, we will develop charts for male and female (both virgin and pregnant) Sprague-Dawley, Wistar and Long-Evans rats. This is necessary because alcohol metabolism varies between strains and genders, and changes during pregnancy. Consequently we cannot assume that the charts developed under Phase I are applicable to other models. We will also modify the existing rat prototype so that the chambers can accommodate food holders and water bottles, as well as outlets for cannulae, while the integrity of the system is maintained during long-term housing. A stand holding syringes and/or the recording instruments will be built, that fits over the chambers. Finally, we found that mice housed in rat chambers had very heterogeneous BALs. Therefore an important aspect of our work will consist in building chambers for mice, a species that is increasingly used in alcohol research, but which will require a redesign of the system to accommodate their smaller size. Once this new design has been determined, we will develop charts correlating parameters of alcohol delivery to target BALs in mice of three commonly used strains, BALB/c, C57BL/6 and DBA/2. The finished rat and mouse products will represent a very significant improvement over presently available systems. It will be versatile, user-friendly and affordable. While originally designed for alcohol work, we anticipate that it will be easily modifiable for other volatile, non-corrosive substances, including those that are presently difficult to study because they are highly toxic. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Not available