Animal House

The Animal House Facility maintains thirty one strains of mice (inbred, outbred, transgenic, knock-out & immune deficient ) , three strains of rats, two strains of hamsters, three strains of rabbits and two strains of guinea pigs in different rooms. The average number of animals are maintained around 10,000 to  12000. The animal rooms are maintained at 22.2ºC with a relative humidity of 55.5%. A 12-hour light-dark cycle is maintained with automatic timers. All the environmental factors are moderated by a computerized central monitoring system. The animal facility is registered under CPCSEA, Ministry of Environment & Forest, Government of India. The registration number our animal facility is 20/GO/RBi/S/99/CPCSEA for Research, Breeding for in-house use on small animals 

The main objective of the Animal House is to supply defined strains of mice, rats, guinea pigs, hamsters and rabbits to the scientific community of the Centre. The propagation of all defined strains is done in two-tier system, i.e., foundation colony (SPF colony) and production colony.

Mouse genotype laboratory was recently established with equipment related to genetic monitoring and biochemical monitoring of laboratory animals. Routine check for genetic contamination in lab animals is carried out using nine microsatellite SSLP markers (D1 Mit 21, D2Mit61,D4 Mit 53, D5 Mit 18, D6Mit39,D9Mit27 ,D12Mit5,  and D14Mit7. and seven biochemical markers ( Hbb, Car- I,  Gpi- I, Est- I, Alb-1Mup-1 and Trf- I ) and ten biochemical markers ( Hbb, Car- I, Car- II, Gpi- I, Est- I, Est- III, Mod- I, Idh- I, Pgm- I and Trf- I ) using PCR and enzyme markers analyzed through cellulose acetate electrophoresis techniques.

The Animal House team comprises of 18 staff including 11 qualified animal caretakers, who have undergone specialized training in breeding and management of laboratory animals course offered by NCLAS , National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, ACTREC, Mumbai and CSIR-CFTRI, Mysore.

Two trained veterinarian carries out regular health monitoring of all animals to ensure that they are free from contagious diseases. To prevent the transmission of infection, standard hygienic procedures, i.e., use of sterilized bedding, autoclaved cages, zero  bacteria/autoclaved drinking water and handling of animals using gloved hands are followed. Necropsy and autopsy of suspected contagious/infectious animals are performed by a veterinarian and prophylactic measures are implemented.

Regular screening of microorganisms in the SPF and production colony mice, feed, water, paddy husk, and isolators are carried out by various microbiological and pathological techniques, viz., culture, differential staining techniques, biochemical tests, ELISA and PCR based microbial screening  and histopathology.

The following pathogen were monitored regularly by  and ELISA and PCR based monitoring system

Mouse hepatitis virus, Mouse Parvo virus, Mouse Hanta virus, Minute virus of mice, Lymphocytic choriomenigitis, Mouse helicobacter hepaticus, Mouse mycoplasma pulmonis, Rat mycoplasma pulmonis, Kilham rat virus, Rat Corono virus,RCV/SDA and Rabbit  pasturella multocida.

Animal house activities are maintained in three different kind of software operated in single platform  called as ONTEXA. These includes online  animal indenting  platform in which PI can raise the online animal request as per IAEC project and once the animal issued, the software automatically create a form D as per CPCSEA requirement. The second platform operated with the inventory software to handle the animal census, mortality, animal production and supply data’s and these data’s are converted to Form C as per CPCSEA requirement. Third platform create a monitoring software to gather data’s  and made a report  of temperature , humidity monitoring details , fumigation, genetic monitoring and microbial monitoring details

List of Animals are available at CCMB Animal House

Other animals