[Some details on the updating of an animal vesical tumor model].
OBJECTIVE
To describe the problems found by the authors with a murine vesical tumour model.


METHODS
Review of the primary aspects of the choice of animal and challenge of murine vesical tumours. Also, analysis of the relationship between bladder size, estimated by palpation, and volume obtained after death of animals and measurement of bladder dimensions. Finally, establishment of specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) of the abdominal examination in bladders with size > or = 4 mm.


RESULTS
Vesical tumours challenging in small-sized experimental animals is simple and requires minimum logistics. With regard to estimate of vesical dimensions, the r coefficient between the methods used by the authors to assess vesical volume reached 0.97 (r2 = 0.95). Specificity and PPV of abdominal digital examination in bladders > or = 4 mm reached 100%.


CONCLUSIONS
Handling of C57BL/6 mice requires very short training periods. Abdominal digital examination allows to extrapolate size of the bladder and to select tumour-bearing animals when the estimated vesical size is equal to or greater than 4 mm.
Páez Borda
A
A
Unidad de Investigación Urológica, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Madrid.
Luján Galán
M
M
Ferruelo Santos
A
A
Llanes González
L
L
Fernández Segoviano
P
P
Berenguer Sánchez
A
A
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms