Rodent Breeding Colonies
Background
A breeding colony may be necessary to develop an animal model is not commercially available, or produce young animals with specific age or weight that cannot be provided by a commercial breeding colony. Investigators developing a new spontaneous or induced mutant animal model might also need to maintain their own breeding colony because there is no alternative source for the animal model.
IACUC Review Requirements
All activities involving the intentional breeding of rodents (all strains) at UCI must be reviewed and approved by the IACUC. Breeding of animals must be scientifically justified, and all breeding activities must be associated with a research protocol. Investigators who wish to obtain approval for a breeding colony must complete and submit the Supplemental Application to Establish and Maintain a Breeding Colony.
Breeding colonies may be appended to research protocols:
- As part of the initial or three-year submission of the research protocol, or
- As a modification request.
If the breeding colony request is submitted for concurrent review with the research protocol, the original Breeding Colony Supplemental Application should be appended to the original protocol application and collated copies should be made of the two documents. If the breeding colony request is submitted as a modification to an existing protocol, the completed Supplemental Application should be accompanied by a Request for IACUC Protocol Modification coversheet. All requests to add a breeding colony to an existing protocol require full committee review.
IACUC Review Criteria
Regardless of whether the breeding colony is being added to a new or existing research protocol, the establishment of the colony must be scientifically justified. The IACUC carefully reviews breeding colonies to assure proper colony management, appropriate breeding schemes, weaning ages, and methods for identification of individual animals.
Large numbers of animals are required to maintain a breeding colony. The number of animals can be only approximated because it is impossible to predict the exact number and sex of offspring. There also can be confusion about whether an estimate of number of animals distinguishes between breeders, young that cannot be used in experiments because they are of the wrong genotype or sex, and animals that are actually subjected to experimental manipulations. Appendix B of the ILAR Guidelines for the Care and Use of Mammals in Neuroscience and Behavioral Research (2003) includes useful information for determining the total number of animals produced in order to obtain the number of animal needed to perform the research.
The IACUC pays special attention to the production of animals in colonies, and requires that the number of unusable animals must be minimized to the greatest extent possible. Researchers should work with ULAR veterinarians to make unusable animals available to other research wherever feasible. In addition, if the species/strain is commercially available, the production of these animals must be carefully justified on scientific grounds - cost savings is NOT a valid justification.
Campus Resources
- Researchers are encouraged to investigate the services offered by the UCI Transgenic Mouse Facility. The TMF can create and maintain special rodent lines for UCI researchers.
- More information about rodent breeding is available on the ULAR site.
