Laboratory animals used in Pharmacology Labs Breeding and Normal Parameters to be considered

1. INTRODUCTION TO
LABORATORY ANIMALS AND
BREEDING
NAVEEN K L
Dept. Of Pharmacology
Srinivas College of Pharmacy
Valachil, Mangalore

2. INTRODUCTION:
 Laboratory animals are the animals which are
used for research purpose to determine the
different activities of the drug
 Mainly;
 Developing and testing medicines and vaccines
for humans
 Assessing the safety of chemicals, such as
pesticides, for their possible effect on human
health or environment

3. OBJECTIVES:
 Use of animal phylogenetically closer to man
 Use of an animal in which the process under
investigation is as closer as possible to that in
man
 The anatomy, physiology and biochemistry are
considered to be similar

5. Rat (Ratus norvegius)

6.  Albino rat is the most common lab animal
 Small size, great sensitivity to most drugs
 Withstand long periods of experimentation under
anaesthesia
 Two inbred original strains of albino rats used are:
 Wistar rat
 Sprague Dawley rat

7.  Do not vomit ( due to strong sphincter between
stomach and oesophagus and lack vomiting centre)
 Do not have tonsils and gallbladder
 Tail help in thermoregulation
 Used in research of behaviour, pharmacology,
physiology, neuroscience, immunogenetics,
transplantation, aging etc
 Various isolated tissue used are rat uterus ,ileum,
fundus, vas deference

9. BREEDING:
 Life span 2 to 3 Yrs.
 Puberty at 50 to 60 days
 Continuously Polyestrus
 Gestation 21-24 days
-pregnancy determination at 14 days
-pseudopregnancy may last up to 14 days
 Litter size 7 to 11
- Do not disturb for 3-4 days after delivery
- Young born pink, naked, blind, deaf

10. Mouse (Mus musculus)

11.  Smallest lab animal
 Easy to keep, handle and require small place for
housing
 Uniformly breed common strains Swiss albino
mice
 Sensitive to small doses of drugs
 Use their tail to help in thermoregulation

12.  Used for bioassay of insulin and screening of
analgesics by chemically induced writhing method
 Acute toxicity studies
 Screening of chemotherapeutic agents
 Used in testing of teratogenicity
 It provides good model for research on diseases like
cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, autoimmune
disease and other endocrine disorders

13. BREEDING:
 Life span 2-3 yrs.
 Puberty at 28 to 40 days
 Gestation period 21 days
 Litter size 6-12
 Weaned at 21 days

14. Guinea Pig (Cavia porcellus)

15.  Herbivorous and eat green food seed and roots.
Guinea pigs are not able to synthesize daily Vit-C
 Highly sensitive to histamine
 Docile in nature & susceptible to tuberculosis and
anaphylactic shock
 In this species dopamine causes fall in BP
 Various isolated tissues used are ileum, vas deferens
and uterus
 Terminal portion of ileum used for screening of
spasmodic and antispasmodic agents

16.  Ideal model for enteric amoebiasis,
hypersensitivity, shock, tuberculosis, ascorbic acid
metabolism
 It have sensitive cochlea are suitable for hearing
experiments
 Being docile in nature and resistant to hypoxia,
suitable for experiment on oxygen consumption

17. BREEDING:
 Life span is 4-5 years
 All teeth are open rooted and grow continuously
 They have large cecum
 They are Polyestrus and breed the year around ; ovulation is
spontaneous
 The duration of the estrus cycle is 15-17 days and estrus itself
last 24-48 hrs
 The average gestation period is 65 days
 The average litter size is 3-4
 Weaning occurs at 14-28 days

18. Hamster(Mesocricetus auratus)

19.  Hamster have chunky body with short legs, small fluffy
tails & large amount of loose skin covered with dense
soft fur
 Two species are commonly used;
-Golden or Syrian hamster
-Chinese hamster
 Golden hamsters are used in virology, cancer, genetic
pharmacology, toxicology etc
 Chinese hamsters are commonly used in research on
diabetes due to deficiency of b cell
 Presence of cheek pouch make it useful for research in
field of immunology

20. Rabbit(Oryctolagus cuniculus)

21.  Very docile animals
 Used for testing of large volume parenteral and
for the screening and bioassay of insulin and
antidiabetic drugs
 New Zealand white rabbit have been used for the
screening of drugs for disease like diabetes,
diphtheria, tuberculosis, cancer
 Employed for screening of antifertility drugs and
for teratogenic studies
 Skin is sensitive to irritation. Hence used for
irritancy test

22.  Isolated heart and duodenum and ileum preparation
are used for testing
 To test the toxic effects of cosmetics and
pharmaceuticals
 It is very sensitive to histamine
 Used for many cardiac studies

23. BREEDING:
 Male-buck; Female-doe; Young-kit
 Life span; 5 to 8+ years
 Sexual maturity; 4-10 months
 Induced ovulators (like cats)
 Sexual dimorphism
 Always take female to the males cage for breeding
 Gestation 29-35 days
 Nesting box is necessary
 Do not disturb doe and kit first 10-14 days
 Weaned at 4-6 weeks

24. Dog (Canis familiaris)

25.  Most preferred large experimental animal
 Used for studying various anti arrhythmic, CVS Sand
autonomic drug
 The advantages are small alimentary canal and easily get
trained
 Anesthetized dogs are used to study drugs BP
 For study hypoglycaemic drugs
 Stomach and intestinal tract resembles human ,it is also
good model for diabetes mellitus, ulcerative colitis,
organ transplantation, CNS, safety pharmacology and
toxicology

26. Frog (Rana temporaria)

27.  All amphibian absorb moisture through skin so they
must be provided with water
 The response of stimulation varies from frog to frog
and season to season
 Commonly used to study actions of drugs on CNS, on
heart, NMJ, as well as diagnosis of pregnancy
 For determination of retinal toxicity of drugs

28. Monkey (Macaca mulatta)

29.  Structurally and functionally similar to man
 Suitable for undertaking psychopharmacological
studies
 It is an ideal model for pharmacokinetic studies. Best
for studying drugs acting on CNS, CVS, GIT, and
fertility
 Require regular check up for rabies, tuberculosis and
timely immunization
 Used to study drug metabolism

30. Cat (Felis catus)
 Used for screening of ganglionic drugs
 Cats are useful model in studying the transmission of
vitamins and minerals to the foetus and new-born
 Both anesthetized and spinal preparation are used for
testing
 Cats are essential in the study of nerve centres in
brain
 Cats have ability to produce mat haemoglobin so used
to study toxicity of compounds like acetanilide

31. THANK YOU