New Research with Mice May Have Implications for Longevity in Humans
Longer life is the Holy Grail of scientific research, and new discoveries may put us one step closer to understanding how to help mice, and humans, live longer.
KentConnects Blog
Welcome to the KentConnects blog, where we provide tips, best practices, examples, and more helpful information to improve your processes, boost your efficiency, and make your lab work smarter and safer.
Ensuring Long-term Accuracy in the Lab with Electronic Vaporizers
An electronic anesthesia vaporizer converts a liquid anesthetic into a gas vapor. This process is required because anesthetic agents are usually supplied in liquid form at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. These agents must be vaporized before lab animals can inhale them for surgery.
The Sex Effect: The Biological Sex of Both Researchers and Mice Can Skew Research Results
Does the sex of the researcher or the animal matter in animal research? Increasingly, it’s looking like the answer is yes, at least in some cases. In recent studies, scientists are gaining a better understanding of how biological sex affects research results.
Animal Research Leads to New Cancer-Related Scientific Discoveries
According to the American Cancer Society, there will be approximately 1.9 million new cancer cases diagnosed and 609,360 cancer deaths in the United States this year. Working with animal models, researchers have recently discovered potential new treatments for cancers of the brain, bone marrow, thymus, liver, lung, and lymph nodes.
The Benefits of Monitoring Mouse Body Temperature
Researchers have been exploring the link between anesthesia and body temperature since the early 1930s. One study (1942) into the body temperature of mice during anesthesia posited a connection between reduced anesthetic efficacy and a drop in core temperature. Yet the importance of body temperature measurement prior to, during, and after general anesthesia, particularly in research settings, can often go overlooked.
New Research with Animals Could Shed Light on the Human Brain
Mouse brains have obvious differences from the human brain, but have still proven to be important models for studying many aspects of the human brain. New mouse studies have given researchers insight into a number of brain functions that could have implications for humans, including how the brain determines whether an experience is positive or negative, fast food’s role in depression and anxiety, how pollution and stress alter brain development, and how waking up at night could boost memory.
Understanding Endotracheal Intubation of Small Animals
Endotracheal intubation (EI) is a core component of in vivo studies on small animals . An endotracheal tube inserted through the mouth provides a pathway for delivering inhalation anesthetic drugs, and helps the animal to maintain airway patency while anesthetized. Additionally, tracheal intubation enables ventilatory support to be provided should the animal become unstable during surgery. Yet despite the routine nature of the procedure, small animal intubation remains a technically challenging prospect.
Using Sound to Reduce Pain and Other Advances in Pain Treatment
More than 50 million people in the United States are living with chronic pain—about 20% of American adults—according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Animal Research Leads to Potential New Treatments for Diabetes
More than 37 million people in the United States have diabetes, which is the seventh leading cause of death in the country and is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, kidney damage, liver disease, and several types of cancer. New preclinical studies show promise as potential treatments for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Pulse Oximetry Explained
With continuing advances in medical research, small animals such as rats, mice, and gerbils are being used as surgical models. Advanced monitoring devices have been developed to monitor subjects during surgery to improve surgical outcomes and consider increasing concern for humane practices. These devices monitor several vital signs, including blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation level (SpO2).