Maintaining and Monitoring the Defined Microbiota Status of Gnotobiotic Rodents.
Gnotobiotic (germfree, defined colonized) rodents have become powerful tools to advance our understanding of the host-microbiome relationship. However, the maintenance and ultimately the monitoring of gnotobiotic rodents is a critical, labor-intensive, and costly process (e.g., sterility, not absence of specific pathogens, must be demonstrated in germfree animals). Here, we provide information on the housing and maintenance of gnotobiotic animals, elucidate prophylactic measurements to avoid contamination, and make specific recommendations for sampling procedures, sampling frequencies, and test methods.
Werner Nicklas, Dr. med. vet., DipECLAM, is head of the Microbiological Diagnostics of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany. Lydia Keubler, PhD, is German board certified veterinarian and research associate and André Bleich, PhD, DipECLAM, is director of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Science and Central Animal Facility of the Hannover Medical School in Hannover, Germany.
Werner
W
Nicklas
Werner Nicklas, Dr. med. vet., DipECLAM, is head of the Microbiological Diagnostics of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany. Lydia Keubler, PhD, is German board certified veterinarian and research associate and André Bleich, PhD, DipECLAM, is director of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Science and Central Animal Facility of the Hannover Medical School in Hannover, Germany.
Lydia
L
Keubler
Werner Nicklas, Dr. med. vet., DipECLAM, is head of the Microbiological Diagnostics of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany. Lydia Keubler, PhD, is German board certified veterinarian and research associate and André Bleich, PhD, DipECLAM, is director of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Science and Central Animal Facility of the Hannover Medical School in Hannover, Germany.
André
A
Bleich
D000818:Animals; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D064307:Microbiota / Q000502:physiology; D023421:Models, Animal; D051381:Rats; D012377:Rodentia / Q000382:microbiology
germfree; gnotobiotic; monitoring