In the last fiscal year, the NIDCR intramural animal research program used five guinea pigs,87,926 mice,370 rats,and 12 Xenopus frogs in research. The program provides a dedicated animal facility that can accommodate 5,760 mouse cages with a capacity up to 28,800 mice to NIDCR investigators only. The cage occupancy rate of that animal facility was about 98% of assigned space in August 2014. Additional mouse housing is provided in five other shared or centralized animal facilities on the Bethesda NIH campus and can accommodate 3,040 more mouse cages with a capacity of 15,200 mice. Housing for rats is provided by 224 rat cages with a capacity of about 650 rats in a shared facility. Currently, there are 8 Xenopus frogs that are housed in a separate aquatics holding area in another NIH campus animal facility. At this time no nonhuman primates, dogs, cats, farm animals, or fish are used by the intramural program of NIDCR. The NIDCR Animal Care and Use Committee reviewed and approved, or requested modifications for approval of 36 animal study proposals and 111 proposal amendments. New personnel were added to approximately 100 protocols and 62 Annual Reviews of current animal study protocols were conducted by the ACUC. Training is required for all animal users, principal investigators, and ACUC members. NIDCR intramural scientists create and breed transgenic mice for experimental use in NIDCR operated and other NIH shared animal facilities. The NIDCR animal program is continually sharing these valuable animal resources and importing additional transgenic mice for specific research studies. The NIDCR Veterinary Resources Core successfully completed the 2014 NIH AAALAC Site Visit in June 2014, maintaining full accreditation.
| Mukaibo, Taro; Munemasa, Takashi; George, Alvin T et al. (2018) The apical anion exchanger Slc26a6 promotes oxalate secretion by murine submandibular gland acinar cells. J Biol Chem 293:6259-6268 |
