A simple cage-autonomous method for the maintenance of the barrier status of germ-free mice during experimentation - PubMed (original) (raw)

doi: 10.1177/0023677214544728. Epub 2014 Aug 5.

C Bar-Nathan 1, G Milite 2, I Alon 1, Y Moshe 1, L Greenfeld 1, N Dotsenko 1, J Suez 3, M Levy 3, C A Thaiss 3, H Dafni 1, E Elinav 3, A Harmelin 4

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A simple cage-autonomous method for the maintenance of the barrier status of germ-free mice during experimentation

G Hecht et al. Lab Anim. 2014 Oct.

Abstract

The use of germ-free (GF) isolators for microbiome-related research is exponentially increasing, yet limited by its cost, isolator size and potential for trans-contamination. As such, current isolator technology is highly limiting to researchers engaged in short period experiments involving multiple mouse strains and employing a variety of mono-inoculated microorganisms. In this study, we evaluate the use of positive pressure Isocages as a solution for short period studies (days to 2-3 weeks) of experimentation with GF mice at multiple simultaneous conditions. We demonstrate that this new Isocage technology is cost-effective and room-sparing, and enables maintenance of multiple simultaneous groups of GF mice. Using this technology, transferring GF mice from isolators to Isocage racks for experimentation, where they are kept under fully germ-free conditions, enables parallel inoculation with different bacterial strains and simultaneous experimentation with multiple research conditions. Altogether, the new GF Isocage technology enables the expansion of GF capabilities in a safe and cost-effective manner that can facilitate the growth, elaboration and flexibility of microbiome research.

Keywords: Isocage; germ-free mice.

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