Development of Individual Chambers for Alcohol Delivery

描述(申请人提供)：暴露实验啮齿动物的能力 在几个小时到几天的时间里饮酒对研究来说至关重要。目前， 这样做的方法包括重复注射，给动物喂一次 含酒精的液体饮食，或将它们分组存放在大房间中 哪些酒精蒸气是流通的。这些方法的缺点包括 出现有压力的手术、饮食不足和/或无力 当动物处于水蒸气环境中时，可以接触到它们。在……下面 第一阶段，我们开发了一个原型，它展示了构建 单独的老鼠笼子，我们可以在里面流通已知数量的酒精 水蒸气。这个系统使我们能够开发出与血液酒精相关的图表 酒精浓度(BALS)到预先确定的酒精输送参数。第二阶段将 扩展在第一阶段中成功探索的科学思想，如 研究人员使用了不同的老鼠品系，包括雄性和雌性，并希望 治疗他们的动物几天，我们会为雄性和 雌性(包括处女和怀孕)SD-Dawley、Wistar和Long-Evans大鼠。 这是必要的，因为酒精代谢在菌株和 性别，以及怀孕期间的变化。因此，我们不能假设 在第一阶段开发的图表也适用于其他模型。我们还将 修改现有的老鼠原型，使房间可以容纳食物 支架和水瓶，以及插管的出口，而完整的 在长期住房期间，该系统的维护。拿着注射器的架子 和/或录音设备将被建造，可以安装在房间里。 最后，我们发现，关在大鼠房间里的小鼠有非常不同的BALs。 因此，我们工作的一个重要方面将是为 老鼠，一种越来越多地被用于酒精研究的物种，但它将 需要重新设计系统以适应较小的尺寸。一旦这一次 新的设计已经确定，我们将开发相关参数的图表 在三个常用品系的小鼠中将酒精输送到靶标BAL， BALB/c、C57BL/6和DBA/2。大鼠和小鼠的成品将代表 与目前可用的系统相比有非常显著的改进。会是 功能齐全、用户友好、价格实惠。虽然最初是为酒精而设计的 工作，我们预计它将很容易被修改为其他易失性的、 非腐蚀性物质，包括目前难以研究的物质 因为它们是剧毒的。 建议的商业应用： 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