Fascicle 1 Terminology

Question 1

3 Rs

Answer 1

• reduce the number of animals used in research, wherever possible;
• refine methods and procedures, to enhance the potential for good science and finally;
• replace the use of animals wherever feasible with suitable alternatives

Question 2

CCAC

Answer 2

CANADIAN COUNCIL ON ANIMAL CARE: The mandate of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) is “to work for the
improvement of animal care and use on a Canada-wide basis”.

Question 3

Surgical Suite

Answer 3

Surgical suites consist of the operating room supplied with special lighting and a sterile air
supply, a room or space dedicated to preparing the animal for surgery “prepping”, a surgeon
scrub station outside the operating room, an instrument and pack preparation (sterilization)
space and an animal recovery area or intensive care unit.

Question 4

Barrier Suites

Answer 4

These are units designed to keep out infectious diseases and parasites from the colonies
housed in them. They have the facilities for personnel to change clothes when entering them,
with the option in some cases, to shower. In the more sophisticated units sterile air showers are
used. There are airlocks through which major items pass in and out. Sometimes there is an
autoclave which may be a pass-through type or one nearby in which heat resistant items can be
sterilized, such as special autoclavable food, water, cages and bedding.

Question 5

Biocontainment Suites

Answer 5

Biocontainment Suites are very specially constructed to keep all pathogenic agents used
within them completely contained, with no possibility of escape into the surrounding zones. In
many ways, they are like the mirror image of a “Barrier”. You change to go in but you shower
out (not in). The barriers are tighter and the fail safe mechanisms are very advanced with
multiple layers of back-up safety.

Question 6

Transgenic Unit

Answer 6

Transgenic units usually consist of laboratory space for micromanipulation of embryos, with
areas for tissue culture and cryopreservation of embryos in liquid nitrogen. The animal unit is
virtually a breeding unit with a typical rigorous system of recording and documentation. Many
units operate behind some level of barrier facility to prevent the invasion of mouse diseases.Clearly, transgenic animals are by no means easily replaceable if they are lost and they are
enormously valuable both scientifically and in terms of the cost to produce them.
It is for these reasons, and to prevent complications in research with these animals that
barrier systems for transgenic animals are commonly used.

Question 7

Gnotobiotic Laboratory

Answer 7

Supplied with filtered sterile air, sterile food,
water and supplies, it is possible to raise animals in an isolator completely germ-free or associated
with specific microbes. Very valuable breeding nuclei can be maintained free from disease in
these units. Diseased rodent strains can be caesarian derived and cross fostered into disease-free
parents in an isolator.

Question 8

Ventilation

Answer 8

have to be ventilated with 100% fresh air from outside. This means that
once the air has passed through the facility it is 100% exhausted to the outside. To
control temperature and humidity, the air coming into the building is adjusted to a basic
temperature and humidity and then distributed by large fans through the ductwork to
the rooms. The air is then precisely reheated by a heating coil and the humidity adjusted
as it reaches the room, so that the temperature and humidity in the room can be
maintained at a set point with only a little fluctuation (1˚C up and down at 40 to 60%
relative humidity).

Question 9

FACTORS INFLUENCING WHERE ANIMAL FACILITIES ARE LOCATED(5)

Answer 9

The scientific community
Vendors
Physical Plant Maintenance Personnel
The Staff of the Animal Facility
Garbage Collectors