title: Decontamination of rat embryos and transfer to specific pathogen-free recipients for the production of a breeding colony.
abstract: When animals are introduced to a specific pathogen-free (SPF) facility, care must be taken to avoid the possibility of disease transmission to the local colony. This study investigated the application of a combination of reproductive biotechnologies to establish a new disease-free colony of two rat strains, DarkAgouti(DA/Pit) and Wistar Furth(WF/Pit), from a stock known to be chronically infected with the following pathogens: Mycoplasma pulmonis, Kilham's rat virus, sialodacryoadenitis/coronavirus, and reovirus type 3. To eliminate the pathogens and optimize the use of animals, superovulation, embryo washing and trypsinization, and embryo transfer were used. Donors (DA/Pit and WF/Pit) were treated as follows: the mature females were synchronized by subcutaneous (s.c.) injection with 40 micrograms luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist/animal on day -4. All immature and mature females were induced to superovulate by continuous s.c. infusion with a commercial porcine follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) preparation (3.4 or 6.8 mg NIH-FSH-P1 units per day, respectively), beginning on the morning of day -2. On the afternoon of day 0, the animals received 30 IU human chorionic gonadotropin injected intraperitoneally and mated. From a total of 213 ova flushed from the oviducts of 16 programmed donors, 195 transferrable two-cell embryos were recovered. Two outbred strains of SPF rats, Long-Evans (LE) and Wistar (W), were used as recipients. These mature females (LE and W) were synchronized by using luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist as described and made pseudopregnant by cervical stimulation. Two-cell embryos (DA/Pit and WF/Pit) were washed and trypsinized, then transferred to the oviducts of the pseudopregnant recipients (LE and W).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Rouleau
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Kovacs
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Kunz
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Armstrong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D005260:Female; D009175:Mycoplasma Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D051381:Rats; D011920:Rats, Inbred WF; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012088:Reoviridae Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms