Animal Studies

Animal Studies

1. Authority of IACUC.  The University of Texas at Austin’s IACUC has jurisdiction in all experimental animal protocols. All use of animals must be consistent with the policies and practices outlined in the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/olaw.htm).

2. General guidelines for animal research.  Some general guidelines for animal experimentation in the IRC are:

●  No animal experimentation will be performed without prior approval of the University of Texas at Austin IACUC.  All procedures performed must be detailed in the approved IACUC protocol.  This includes transportation, handling, sedation, physiological monitoring, and emergency procedures.  Deviations from the approved protocol are not allowed, and will be reported to the IACUC and the Animal Research Center as a violation.  Additional corrective/disciplinary action may be taken by the Director at his/her discretion.

●  During transport through IRC corridors in human imaging areas, all animals will be covered (e.g. an animal carrier draped by a sheet).

●  Animals imaged at the IRC must be housed in appropriate containers/equipment in the preparation room, magnet room, and magnet.

●  No animals shall be transported through the IRC front lobby. All animals must be transported in and out of the Pickle Campus facility through the back door (north side) access to the IRC. Prior arrangement must be made to obtain card access to this door.  All animals transported into the NHB facility must enter either through the vivarium entrance whenever possible, or if absolutely necessary, permission from the Operations Administrator may be obtained to enter through the Preclinical Facility front door.

●  All non-sedated animals will be attended and kept in secure cages in a prep room at all times while present in the IRC.

● When required by University policy, all individuals performing animal research will wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves.  Any laundry associated with animal research will not be stored at the IRC to minimize the spread of dander and other animal-related materials to other parts of the facility.

●  Only specific researchers that are absolutely necessary to attend animal scanning sessions may be present in the magnet room unless otherwise approved by the Operations Administrator and the head veterinarianat the Animal Resources Center.

● Researchers must complete UT animal training and IRC animal training that includes magnet training.

● Researchers are responsible for thorough cleanup after animal experimentation. The scanner must be left completely clean and disinfected after use. Any violation may directly result (even if it is a first offense) in withdrawal of the privilege to use the Center.

● Investigators using animals will be held responsible for the safety and cleanliness of their experiments; they will be required to agree in writing that their Department will pay for any loss of scanner time or instrument damage caused by error of the investigator.

● Any use of animals that are considered potentially hazardous (e.g. nonhuman primates, rodents that have been pre-treated with viral expression vectors, etc.) will require a case-by-case risk analysis and special approval by theOperations Administrator , in conjunction with Environmental Health and Safety and the Director of the Animal Research Center.

3. Guidelines for use of human imaging facilities for animals.

●  When animals are scanned in the human scanner, the bed will be fully draped with an absorbent pad.  Whenever possible, custom cradles shall be used to support the animals and minimize contamination of the scanner surfaces.  The cradle shall be specifically designed to keep any animal detritus from soiling the patient bed, magnet bore, or any part of the IRC.  Preferably catheters and diapers/underpads should be used to avoid contamination of the magnet table and bore.  It is important to realize that any leakage of fluids (e.g. urine, blood) can damage the electrical components within the bore of the scanner.  The animal holder, lines and catheters shall be designed without ferromagnetic parts.  No animals will be present in the IRC during any procedure involving a human subject.  Exceptions may be granted by the Director or Medical Director.  Even in the case of such an exception, animals will not be present in the scanning area but will be kept in the staging area until the human subject study is over and the area has been cleaned and disinfected.

●  Animal studies will be performed in a way to provide the opportunity for the ventilation system to dissipate any potential odors.  Access rules and operator specifications shall be followed.