The Animal Facilities of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation provides for the care of all research animals utilized within the institution. The objective of our animal care program is to insure that the institution provides the best possible humane care to research animals and that all research protocols follow high ethical standards. The Animal Research Committee has identified three areas of animal care within our facilities which should be improved and which form the specific aims of this proposal. These are: 1) to improve rodent housing by switching from conventional housing methods to the use of a barrier system provided by Microisolator cages; 2) to improve surgical care by utilizing gas anesthesia instead of barbiturate anesthesia by obtaining the necessary ventilator machines; and 3) to improve post-surgical care by increasing and upgrading the space available for this intensive post-surgical care area and switching the caging to intensive care cages which control the temperature, humidity and oxygen levels in the cage environment. These improvements in our animal care program will result in improved care for the majority of animals utilized in our research program.
