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. A...

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...

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...

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...

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.Treatment options range from massage and acupuncture to steroid injections and surgery, but no solution works for everyone because not all pain is the same....

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...

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...

Reproduction is life’s most basic function, and in some ways also its most mysterious. Researchers working with mice and rats have made several recent reproduction-related breakthroughs, including an in vivo cure for infertility in mice, creating rat sperm from stem cells, discovering that a previously disregarded type of estrogen actually...

Animal warming pads are widely used by pet owners for heat therapy and to improve the general wellbeing of cats, dogs, and small animals at home. These same benefits of using warming pads for animals apply to clinical settings too. Far infrared animal warming pads are particularly beneficial for rodent...

April is National Autism Awareness Month, and researchers worldwide are working to better understand this complex condition. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects one in 44 children in the U.S. and is about four times more common in boys than in girls. There are...

Surgical procedures are governed by strict rigorous controls, but the specifics of anesthetic induction are surprisingly nebulous. There are three overarching classes of agent used to induce animal anesthesia: volatile substances; injectables like ketamine; and local anesthetics.  Animal research labs make routine use of inhalant anesthetics, typically isoflurane, to sedate specimens...

Laboratory animal science is a staple of biomedical research, contributing to countless breakthroughs in drug discovery and novel therapeutics. It is also ever-changing. Researchers are constantly seeking ways to enhance key protocols with the aim of improving animal welfare and surgical outcomes. One of the main avenues of this initiative...

As the world begins to emerge from the pandemic and new coronavirus infections are on the decline, many people are still suffering the effects of long-haul COVID, a debilitating set of symptoms that has plagued patients and flummoxed the medical community. Symptoms of long COVID, which affects up to 30% of...

Routine handling of laboratory mice can improve animal welfare and make them easier to restrain for research procedures. Yet there is conflicting information about the best method of handling and restraint. The conventional technique for handling mice was to grasp them firmly by the base of the tail, but this...

While we now have multiple effective vaccines for COVID-19, another longstanding vaccine goal may be getting closer to becoming reality: a universal influenza vaccine. The Centers for Disease and Control estimates that the flu has caused an average of 28 million illnesses and 34,000 deaths in the United States...

Rodents have long been the preferred species of lab animals in biomedical research, with sporadic experiments on common brown rats stemming back 150 years. Though laboratory animal research continues to pose ethical questions, particularly with respect to animal welfare, the scientific achievements linked to lab rats are innumerous. This primarily...

Anesthesia vaporizers are used for administering volatile anesthetics. They must deliver a reliable and safe concentration of the agent to the receiver in a controllable manner. This article discusses the key elements that are important when selecting a vaporizer to use with rodent subjects. What do Anesthesia Vaporizers Do? Mouse and rat...

If you're looking for updated content, we've created a new post on scientific discoveries and breakthroughs for the last year. This past year was a big one for scientific research, with breakthroughs coming in everything from vaccines for chronic diseases to new approaches to extending lifespan. Here...

Working with rodents in biomedical research is a privilege granted to the scientific community on the expectation that studies will provide significant new insights into human health. Since the mid-19th Century, mice and rats have served as the preferred species for such research owing to their genetic and physiological similarities to...

Women have made important contributions in the neuroscience field since even before it emerged as a specific discipline in the mid-20th century. Despite being a part of the field since its inception, women are still underrepresented in neuroscience, which can be attributed to longstanding bias and misconceptions about the intellectual abilities of...