vivisection @ Sick Kids
Channel: Paul Bali
Date: 2018-08-23

I tried to get basic info on the animal labs at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. For a detailed update, please read my report:

https://philpapers.org/rec/BALVS-2

Excerpts from recent SickKids research:

1. "Mice were allowed to recover under a heat lamp before being returned to their mother. Mice were sacrificed 1 or 3 weeks after surgery by decapitation according to approved protocols and hearts were collected for analysis."

2. "After 7 weeks, the hemodynamic data were obtained and the piglets killed."

3. "We find that contextual fear conditioning is modulated by shock intensity, prevented by an established amnestic agent [MK-801], lasts at least 14 days, and exhibits extinction."

4. "Mice were trained with a single foot shock [0.4 mA, Training], and 24 hrs later tested [Test 1]. . . .Contextual fear memory was assessed again four weeks after initial training [Test 2]. All groups displayed comparable and high freezing response levels during Test 1."

5. "Itsn1 mutant mice showed severe deficits in Morris water maze and contextual fear memory tasks, whereas mice lacking Itsn2 showed normal learning and memory."

6. "Neonatal chinchillas were chronically exposed to a 70 dB SPL narrowband [2 ± 0.25 kHz] sound stimulus for 4 weeks."

7. "Using the Ts mouse, we have created an animal model of Infantile Spasms in Down Syndrome."

8. "Five to twelve-week-old Kcnj6 Triploid mice and WT mice were sacrificed, and their brains were immediately removed from the skull. The cortex and thalamus were then dissected on ice."

9. "Four to seven week-old mice were held gently by the back of the neck and suspended in the vertical position. Mice were injected with 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg GBL with at least three days between treatments. The GBL-induced spasms were quantified by visual inspection. For the visual analysis, the forelimb and hindlimb movements were recorded by a video camera for a duration of five minutes in three different interval periods".

10. "Memory was tested using a probe test. During the probe test, the escape platform was removed from the water and the mouse was allowed to swim freely for 60s. The mouse’s behavior in the pool was recorded by an overhead video camera and tracked using automated software".

11. "Three control pigs were perfused with intravascular methyl methacrylate, and overlying tissue was corroded with potassium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid, leaving only a cast of vessels. Nine pigs underwent anterior costal cartilage graft laryngotracheoplasty and were survived for various lengths of time [3 for 48 hours, 3 for 10 days, 3 for 3 weeks] prior to corrosion casting."

12. "A randomized laboratory study was performed in anesthetized pigs. Lung injury was induced by surfactant lavage followed by 1 h of injurious mechanical ventilation."

13. "Body weight, water intake, activity, and diarrhea scores were measured daily for up to 23 days. At time of sacrifice, mice were anesthetized with ketamine [100 mg/kg intraperitoneally, i.p.] and xylazine [10 mg/kg i.p.] and perfused with phosphate-buffered saline through the left ventricle prior to organ harvesting."

14. "4CG pups were bilaterally gonadectomized at weaning [postnatal day 21 ± 1 day] under isoflurane anaesthesia [1–4%]. Ovariectomies were performed via dorsal incisions. The ovaries were removed after cauterization of each uterine horn below the ovary and fallopian tubes. Male castrations were performed via an abdominal incision. Each testicle was removed after cauterization of the vas deferens."

15. "Mice were placed in a Plexiglas container on a glass surface for 15 minutes and recorded with a video camera to obtain a baseline of their grooming activity. They were then injected with 20 mL of either saline, 44 mg of venom, 4.4 mg of venom, 0.44 mg of venom, 0.044 mg of venom, or 0.0044 mg of venom into the intraplantar region of their left hind paw. Immediately after the injection, they were returned to their containers and filmed for 1 hour to measure their spontaneous pain behavior."

16. "Animals were placed on a glass surface in Plexiglas containers. A thermal stimulus was pointed at the plantar surface of each hind paw through the glass using a Hargreaves apparatus [. . .] until the animal lifted its paw away from the heat source."

17. "The Tail Suspension Test [TST] is a well-validated murine model of affective behavior. Each mouse was suspended by a small piece of masking tape on the tail for a 6-minute duration. All tests were video recorded using ANYMAZE software. The freezing [immobility] and mobility were coded during testing."

18. "All testing was conducted using a computer-controlled fear conditioning system [TSE, Bad Homburg, Germany]. Fear conditioning took place in a plexiglass chamber [20 cm x 20 cm x 36 cm] within a fear-conditioning box that was under constant illumination. During the testing, mice were single-housed and were brought into the testing room individually."