Abstract
Rodents used in biomedical research are maintained behind barriers to exclude microbial contaminants. Several check points have to be monitored to eliminate the potential of introducing adventitious agents into the facility. Microbiological monitoring of a mouse facility environment enables to evaluate the efficiency of sanitization and cleaning procedures, air quality, and technician good practices. At our SPF mouse facility, we implemented an environmental microbiological monitoring program based in sedimentation and swabbing, inexpensive and easy to use methods. The aim of this work was to evaluate the results and the efficiency of the monitoring program after seven years. The median for bacteria and fungi counts in the SPF sampled areas was ≤2 CFU/2 h for settle plates and <1 CFU per swabbing plate, satisfying the requirements for grade C of the EU-GMP, with some modifications. The environmental monitoring program was useful to detect early warning of problems and enabled us to define a safe range of microbiological counts. In addition, SPF status defined for our mice was maintained throughout this study, confirmed by our HM program. This work could encourage directors and technicians of other mouse facilities in Latin America and rest of the world to implement this kind of program.
Highlights
There is worldwide consensus in the scientific community that rodents used in modern biomedical research need to be free of infectious agents, since the presence of pathogens without clinical signs may interfere with research outcome and lead to misinterpreted results (Burkholder et al 2012, Shek 2008)
Disposable 90mm Petri dishes were prepared with Tryptone Soy Agar (TSA) and Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) (Oxoid Limited, Hampshire, United Kingdom) following manufacturers instructions and used to detect viable aerobic bacteria and fungi, respectively
The number of Colony forming units (CFU) of viable aerobic bacteria per TSA sedimentation plate and CFU of viable aerobic fungi per SDA sedimentation plate are shown in Figures 2a and 2b, respectively (CFU are presented in tables SIa-b as Supplementary Material)
Summary
There is worldwide consensus in the scientific community that rodents used in modern biomedical research need to be free of infectious agents, since the presence of pathogens without clinical signs may interfere with research outcome and lead to misinterpreted results (Burkholder et al 2012, Shek 2008). To this aim, rodents are maintained behind multiple barriers to exclude microbial contaminants. Environmental microbiological monitoring of a mouse facility enables to evaluate the efficiency of sanitization and cleaning procedures, air quality, and technician good practices
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