title: Efficacy of soaking in 70% isopropyl alcohol on aerobic bacterial decontamination of surgical instruments and gloves for serial mouse laparotomies.
abstract: Rodent surgeries in biomedical research facilities are often performed in series. This practice presents many challenges to maintaining aseptic technique between animals. Here, we examined using soaking in 70% isopropyl alcohol for aerobic bacterial decontamination of surgical instruments and gloves used in a series of as many as 10 mouse laparotomy surgeries. These surgeries were performed on mice that were euthanized immediately prior to the procedure. Instruments and gloves were cultured before and after each procedure to determine the presence of aerobic bacterial contamination. To assess the efficacy of the decontamination protocol, culture results were grouped by procedure and then paired (before soak and after soak) for analysis using McNemar test at an α level of 0.05. In addition, by using the Fisher exact test, this modified aseptic method was compared with strict aseptic technique, for which autoclaved instruments and sterile surgical gloves were used for each procedure. In this study, we observed that the modified aseptic technique using 70% isopropyl alcohol soaks pre- vented aerobic bacterial contamination of instruments and gloves for as many as 5 mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA. Jessica_Keen@urmc.rochester.edu
authors.forename: Jessica N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Keen
authors.forename: MaryKay
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Austin
authors.forename: Li-Shan
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Messing
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wyatt
mesh_terms: D019840:2-Propanol; D000818:Animals; D001207:Asepsis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D001420:Bacteria, Aerobic / Q000187:drug effects; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D004203:Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005932:Gloves, Surgical / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D013525:Surgical Instruments / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D019840:2-Propanol