The Rationale for Culling of Rodent Litters

Agnish, Narsingh D.; Keller, Kit A.

doi:10.1093/toxsci/38.1.2

Cited by 20 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The aim of the procedure is to standardise the pre-weaning litter responses, but the scientiWc merit of this practice is debatable (Agnish and Keller, 1997;Chapin and Heck, 1997;Palmer and Ulbrich, 1997). This practice does have the advantage of providing excess pups at 4 days of age that can be used for pharmacokinetic analyses, immune tests, or terminal examinations.…”

Section: Day 4 Post-partummentioning

confidence: 99%

Immune assessments in developmental and juvenile toxicology: Practical considerations for the regulatory safety testing of pharmaceuticals

Barrow¹,

Ravel²

2005

Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology

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Section: Day 4 Post-partummentioning

confidence: 99%

Immune assessments in developmental and juvenile toxicology: Practical considerations for the regulatory safety testing of pharmaceuticals

Barrow¹,

Ravel²

2005

Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology

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“…The size of the litter matters especially when studying developmental mechanisms. Following birth, if the pups continue to be studied into later developmental period, a culling of litter should be performed since litter size influences pup growth and development and a number of experimental parameters (131,132). To mention a few, body weight gain during lactation is inversely proportional to litter size, and this is associated with milk availability.…”

Section: Litter Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

Cannabis Use in Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women: Behavioral and Neurobiological Consequences

et al. 2020

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Nowadays, cannabis is the most consumed illicit drug. The global prevalence of the use of cannabis in 2017 was estimated in 188 million of people, 3.8% of worldwide population. Importantly, the legalization of cannabis in different countries, together with the increase in the apparent safety perception, may result in a great variety of health problems. Indeed, an important concern is the increase in cannabis use among pregnant and breastfeeding women, especially since the content of delta9-tetrahidrocannabinol (THC) is currently around 2-fold higher than it was 15-20 years ago. The purpose of this study was to review cannabis use during pregnancy and breastfeeding including epidemiological aspects, therapeutic or preventive strategies, and experimental considerations and results from animal models of perinatal cannabis exposure to analyze the underlying neurobiological mechanisms and to identify new therapeutic approaches. A recent report revealed that among pregnant women aged 15-44, last month cannabis use prevalence was over 4.9%, raising to 8.5% in the 18-25-year-old age range. Pre-and post-natal exposure to cannabis may be associated with critical alterations in the newborn infants that are prolonged throughout childhood and adolescence. Briefly, several reports revealed that perinatal cannabis exposure was associated with low birth weight, reduction in the head circumference, cognitive deficits (attention, learning, and memory), disturbances in emotional response leading to aggressiveness, high impulsivity, or affective disorders, and higher risk to develop a substance use disorder. Furthermore, important neurobiological alterations in different neuromodulatory and neurotransmission systems have been associated with cannabis consumption during pregnancy and lactation. In spite of the evidences pointing out the negative behavioral and neurobiological consequences of cannabis use in pregnant and breastfeeding women, there are still limitations to identify biomarkers that could help to establish preventive or therapeutic approaches. It is difficult to define the direct association specifically with cannabis, avoiding other confusing factors, co-occurrence of other drugs consumption (mainly nicotine and alcohol), lifestyle, or socioeconomic factors. Therefore, it is necessary to progress in the characterization of short-and long-term cannabis exposure-related disturbances.

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“…In cases where it was not possible to give a dam 6 males and 4 females, these litters were filled with as many males as possible then adjusted to 10 with female pups. The basis for this process was 1) to standardize the litters across dams to eliminate the effects of unequal litter size or sex ratio (Agnish & Keller, 1997), and 2) to include dams with litters of fewer than 10 pups by the addition of pups from other litters. Excess pups were euthanized, and their brains were weighed.…”

Section: Cullingmentioning

confidence: 99%