Transcript Colony Management - University of Colorado Denver

Office of Lab Animal Resources
University of Colorado Denver AMC
Tracy Haney, CVT, RLAT
Holly Goold, CVT, RALAT
TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL
BREEDING AND COLONY
MANAGEMENT
Environmental Factors

Drop in production (October-March)
 Even
though mice are in a controlled environment
 Light
cycles, temperature, humidity, etc
 Smaller,
less frequent litters.
External factors


Odor from staff (perfume/cologne, cigarette smoke)
Entering housing room after hours (8p-6a)
 Mice




mate 5-6 hours after dark cycle starts
Conversations/music/phones in housing room
Amount of traffic in housing room
Shoving cages anywhere on rack
Inexperienced /unconfident handling
of mice
Cage location

In room
 If

possible, away from door and ATS
On rack
 Lowest
row on rack, away from lights
 Keep separate from experimental mice
 Less
cage movement
Enrichment



Helps decrease stress/increase pup survival
Manage their environment
Mimics natural nest
 Brown
paper shred
 Mouse huts/paper towel rolls

Con
 Remove
before cage wash if combined with nestlet
 Must use ~6-8 grams of shred
 Hard to visualize litters
Breeder Set-up

Setting Breeders

Mice and Rats
 Females: 5 weeks to 8-10 months



Breed females before 3 months of age
 better fertility
Litter sizes decrease with age
Genetic issues
 Poor lactation in homozygous moms
 Males:
6 weeks to 12-18 months
 Set-up



Set in a clean cage
Add enrichment/breeder chow
“Charged” cage
Types of Matings

Continuous pair
 Pros
Post-partum estrous cycle
 Litters every 21 days

 Cons


Possibility of two litters
in the cage
Non-Contiuous

Pros


No double litters
Con
Have to remove the male
 Less frequent litters


Triad
 Pros

Sister females, synced
estrous cycle
 Cons

Unrelated females

1 Dominant female
Requires protocol
approval
 Male rotated between
cages
 Miss females’ postpartum estrous

Breeding Tips

Lithgow “Check for Pups/Wean” cards are provided
in housing rooms


Track births, pups lost, and successful weaning
Tracking fertility
Breeding Tips

DO NOT retire old breeding pairs until after
confirming successful breeding of new pairs
 Retiring old breeders
 Set
new breeding pair one month before retiring old
 Ensure successful breeding before ending old pair
 Stagger
setup
 Insurance
to always have mice
Maintaining a Litter

Avoid extra handling of litter


< 3 days old
Reduce litter size when able


One sex vs phenotype
Genotype early: 7-10 days


Cage changing




Footpad tattoos/tail snips
Anticipating pup birth
Transfer half of the old nest with pups
Fostering
Keep environmental noise levels “even”
Troubleshooting

Pup death

Stress to female




Disturbing the cage frequently
Removing male right before or after pup birth
Separating females from cage right before or after pup birth
Manipulating pups- touching pups within a week of birth
First-time mom (C57 background)
 Transgenic lines


*Please remember that you must remain compliant with the IACUC
rodent overcrowding policy. If multiple litters are in the cage, you are
obligated to separate them for animal welfare reasons regardless of the
risk of cannibalism or maternal neglect. Therefore, it is essential that
you separate mothers prior to the litter being born.
Breeding Specialists
For information on breeding services or training/help
needed, please contact:
Tracy Haney for Barrier and R2:
[email protected], 303-724-3982
Holly Goold for RC-1:
[email protected], 303-724-2237
Questions?
WHY DO MY MICE EAT THEIR
BABIES?!?
DIAGNOSING LACTATION PROBLEMS IN MICE
TOWN HALL MEETING, OCT. 24, 2013
Jenifer Monks, Ph.D.
[email protected]
How could my gene mutation be affecting lactation?!?
Gene mutations may alter mammary function: off-target
Developmental Stages of the Mammary Gland

Cell cycle, proliferation, cell death->
mammary development
Embryonic
Pubertal


Cell polarization, secretion,
metabolism-> milk production
Neurological/behavioral->
mothering, stress, let-down, feeding
behavior in pups
Adult
Involution
Pregnancy
Lactation
…use wild-type, heterozygous or hemizygous females whenever possible
Indications the Dam may be having trouble
feeding her pups








Normal Estrous
Get pregnant, stay pregnant
Normal delivery, normal litter size
Pups scattered around cage
Die peri-partum (shortly after birth) or are
cannibalized
Failure to thrive
Wean runty or with bald butts
Only alternate litters survive
Tips for success:
1)
2)
Nesting material:
thermoregulation,
security, pheromones
“Do Not Disturb” pink
cards peri-partum:
reduce stress
http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2012/march/mice.html
Making mice comfy leads to better science, researcher says
“The shape of the nest tells an experienced person whether the animals are too hot or too
cold, whether they are sick or whether they are about to give birth,”
Do they have milk bands?
No? dead by day 3
You can inspect the cage without opening it
Tips for success:
3) Careful record keeping
Estrous 4-5 days
Gestation 18-21 days
Lactation 21-28 days
(if housed with male, remove
weanling animals at 20 days
old)
Gestation time of your strain is known:
A/J
20.5
129
20.2 Balb/c
20.1
C57BL6
19.6
FVB
18.7
Murray SA, Morgan JL, Kane C, Sharma Y, Heffner CS, et al. (2010) Mouse Gestation Length Is Genetically
Determined. PLoS ONE 5(8): e12418.
Mouse weighing to track reproduction:
Normal gestation is 19 days- Co-housed with maleimplantation delay when concurrently pregnant and lactating
350
ICR 9- reproductive cycle
300
250
weight (g)
23 days
24 days
22 days
24 days
200
Litter
Mom
150
100
50
0
1
6
11
16
21
26
31
36
41
46
51
56
61
days
66
71
76
81
86
91
96
101
106
111
116
Dam-Litter body weights: non-invasive monitoring
mid-pregnancy resorption
of litter
60
50
40
DAM
30
Litter
Compromised milk production
20
SCAP Disrupted Litter Growth
10
40
50
45
Growth Rate
L4-L10 (g/day)
3
5/11/12
5/31/12
35
6/20/12
Litter Weight, grams
0
4/21/12
3.5
Lactation Failure and Early
weaning by mother
40
35
2.5
**
2
30
1.5
25
0.5
Control
! -SCAP
1
0
Control
20
! -SCAP
15
30
25
DAM
20
Litter
15
n = 8 litters
5
1
10
2
3
4
5
6
7
Day of Lactation
5
0
4/21/12
10
5/11/12
5/31/12
6/20/12
8
9
10
Cross-fostering to improve
breeding success
CD-1/ICR & Black Swiss
mice make good foster
dams
Timed matings of both strains
Remove transgenic pups from
biological mother and give to foster
dam as soon after birth as possible
Warm in hand if cold and scattered
Roll in soiled bedding of foster dam
Remove unneeded pups to normalize
litter size-10 teats, match natural
litter size
Place carefully in nest
Timed mating of mice
Photo courtesy Mouse Fancier website
http://www.fancymicebreeders.com/mousefanci
erforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=756
Four stages of estrous in BALB/cByJ mice. The four stages of estrous are shown for an albino
strain (proestrus (A), estrus (B), metestrus (C), diestrus (D)).
Mouse estrous cycle identification tool and images. 2012. PloS one
Why Care about breeding efficiency?



Save time
Save money: $0.83/day/cage
Better animal care = better science
Tips for Increasing Efficiency and Cutting Costs
•
•
Do not set up breeders without knowing their genotypes.
Know what genotypes you are trying to produce and the number you will need.
– Overproduction = wasted animals and $$$
– Underproduction = wasted time
– Account for seasonal variation and holiday schedules
•
•
•
•
Keep a reserve of breeder-age animals.
Retire/replace unproductive breeders (record keeping, 2 consecutive lost litters),
unused experimental animals, and animals of useless genotypes.
Do not keep singly housed animals
Keep a calendar for breeders and experiments
• * Collaborate *
Know which animals are Raptor Safe
Contact OLAR if you have unused animals that can be donated to training protocols
Still having trouble? Ask for help!

Online resources-Jackson Laboratories
OLAR: Care staff, vet techs, breeding specialists
Colleagues

…Andrew Lewis


 Toothless
mice
 Mayonnaise milk
[email protected]
Website: www.medschool.ucdenver.edu/Transgenics
Email: [email protected]
Transgenic and Gene Targeting Core
www.medschool.ucdenver.edu/Transgenics
Peter J. Koch, PhD
Professor of Dermatology and Cell & Developmental Biology, Director
The Charles C Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology
University of Colorado
Saiphone Webb, BS
Senior PRA, Laboratory Manager
Embryo Manipulation Services
Embryonic Stem Cell Development and Production
Abby Zamora, CVT, LAT
PRA
Colony and Data Management
Embryo Manipulation Services
Abhilasha Jain, MS
PRA
Embryonic Stem Cell Development and Production




The transgene stopped working; loss of phenotype
(e.g. promoter methylation)
There is a change in the phenotype of your mice (e.g.
gene drift)
A disease outbreak
Breeding has stopped and you’re left with only few
male and female mice.
•
•
•
•
Order replacement mice from a vendor(if the line is
available)
Request the mice from a colleague working at
another University – (this will take time to breed up
the mice for experiments)
Start over and generate the line from scratch (this
will take more time and money)
Re-establish mouse line using previous frozen
sperm(IVF) or embryos
Embryo Cryo
Embryo Cryo by IVF
Sperm Cryo
Ovary Transplant
• Very Reliable
• Cryo of 2 cell
embryos (300500*)
• Reliable
• Cryo of 2 cell
embryos (300500*)
• Reliable in most
• The last resort !
strains
• Surgical procedure
• Cryo~20 straws of
sperm aliquots
• 10-12 wild type
or genetically
modified females
• Equal number of
stud males
• Multiple attempts
are usually
needed
• 2 proven males
• 2 proven males (8- • Female mice only
(8-15 wks old)
15 wks old)
• Slow to expand the
• 15-20 wild type • Recovery is strain
colony
females
dependent
• Strain dependent
• Usually one
attempt is needed
Transgenic and Gene Targeting Core
www.medschool.ucdenver.edu/Transgenic
[email protected]
Supported by: NIH (SDRC, CCTSI), Gates Center, SOM,
Dermatology Department, Service Fees