Modernizing a Shared-Use Large Animal Facility Supporting Translational Hibernation Research at UAF

总结 阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯（UAF），阿拉斯加土著服务机构，是冬眠的领导者 美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）的第一个COBRE研究中心， 美国一家生物医学中心利用冬眠作为自然适应代谢的模型， 疾病、肌肉萎缩和缺血-再灌注。此外，小型冬眠动物也在研究中 动物资源中心，美国黑熊（Ursus americanus）是冬眠动物， 生理学和解剖学比啮齿动物更接近人类，使它们成为理想的翻译模型， 冬眠研究 UAF拥有最先进的熊冬眠设施，用于研究代谢抑制和疾病恢复能力 通过广泛的生理监测，并使用MRI扫描仪进行研究， 分子成像设施，但目前缺乏长期关押熊在夏季笼子的选择。的 目前大型动物隔离设施的笼子已经过时，只被批准用于关押熊， 两个星期.这就防止了使用“问题熊”，只有在仲夏，当阿拉斯加 渔业和游戏部（ADF&G）否则会对它们实施安乐死，并使它们长期处于危险之中。 夏季控制实验和研究过渡到冬眠是不可能的。拟议的现代化 大型动物隔离设施的建立将改善黑熊的福利， 实验，更好的研究质量，从而支持UAF教师，UAA合作者以及后， 博士、研究生和本科生研究人员。 现代化将提供个人室内和自然室外区域笼，以允许更大的 丰富和锻炼的机会和灵活性，可以减少一个物种的个体间的侵略- 具体的时尚。这一现代化具有重要意义，因为每一种浓缩元素都被证明是 减少圈养熊的压力和刻板行为，从而提高科学数据的质量， 这些模型。这些现代化将使UAF研究人员能够更好地获得夏季控制 动物冬眠的研究，并打开UAF的可能性，接收更多的问题熊从 ADF&G在一年中的这个时候，阿拉斯加经常发生人熊冲突。 UAF的冬眠研究设施支持五个外部NIH资助的UAF教师，合作NIH和 NSF资助UAA的教师，以及博士后研究人员、研究生的培训机会 学生和本科生在翻译冬眠研究。

Summary The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), an Alaskan-Native serving institution, is a leader in hibernation research and houses the Center for Transformative Research in Metabolism (TRiM), the first NIH COBRE supported biomedical center in the U.S. utilizing hibernation as a model of natural adaptation to metabolic disease, muscle atrophy and ischemia-reperfusion. Besides the smaller hibernators also studied in the facilities of the Animal Resource Center, American black bears (Ursus americanus) are hibernators with size, physiology and anatomy far closer to humans than rodents, making them an ideal translational model for hibernation research. UAF has a state-of-the-art bear hibernation facility to study metabolic suppression and resilience to disease with extensive physiological monitoring, and with access to an MRI scanner dedicated to research in the Molecular Imaging Facility, but currently lacks caging options for long-term holding of bears in summer. The current caging at the Large Animal Isolation Facility is outdated and only approved for holding bears for up to two weeks. This prevents use of "problem bears" that only become available in mid-summer when the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) otherwise would have euthanized them, and making long-term summer control experiments and study of transitions into hibernation impossible. The proposed modernization of the Large Animal Isolation Facility will improve welfare for black bears and allow long term summer experiments, better quality of research and thereby support UAF faculty, UAA collaborators as well as post- doctoral, graduate and undergraduate researchers. The modernization will provide both individual indoor and natural outdoor area caging to allow greater enrichment and exercise opportunities and flexibility that can reduce inter-individual aggression in a species- specific fashion. This modernization is significant because each enrichment element has been shown to reduce stress and stereotypical behavior in captive bears and thus improves the quality of scientific data from these models. Together these modernizations will allow UAF researchers greater access to summer controls animals for hibernation studies and opens UAF up to the possibility of receiving more problem bears from ADF&G during the time of year human-bear conflicts often occur in Alaska. UAF’s hibernation research facilities supports five externally NIH funded UAF faculty, collaborating NIH and NSF funded faculty at the UAA, as well as opportunities for training of post-doctoral researchers, graduate students and undergraduates in translational hibernation research.