EXPERIMENTATION WHIT ANIMALS: A KEY ASPECT OF THE 3RS: THE GENETIC QUALITY

GUILLERMO GIOVAMBATTISTA; LIZARRAGA MARIA ALFONSINA; EUGENIA ZAPPA; DIEGO POSIK

Mar Del Plata

Congreso; REUNIÓN ANUAL DE BIOCIENCIA 2019; 2019

SAIC, SAFE,SAB, SAP, AACyTAL, NANOMED-ar

0440 - EXPERIMENTATION WITH ANIMALS: A KEYASPECT OF THE 3RS: THE GENETIC QUALITYMaria Alfonsina LIZARRAGA | Eugenia ZAPPA | NadiaCASTILLO | Diego POSIK | Guillermo GIOVAMBATTISTAINSTITUTO DE GENÉTICA VETERINARIA (IGEVET, CONICET),FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS VETERINARIAS-UNLPAbstract/Resumen: The genetic quality of laboratory animals isessential for reproducibility of scientific research. Working withanimals of certified genetic quality is still a pending issue inArgentina due to the lack of routine genetic controls, ofinformation on the genetic background of animals and of propertraining. Apart from being concerned with having their resultspublished and getting funding for research, scientists shouldknow the genetic origin of laboratory animals. Consequently,they should perform genetic controls to verify whether animalintegrity has been compromised by accidental geneticcontamination or genetic drift. The aim of this work was toevaluate the genetic purity of the inbred C57BL/6J mouse strainfrom three animal facilities belonging to the Buenos AiresUniversity School of Medicine network by analyzing a panel ofmicrosatellite markers. Female mice tail samples (3-5 mm) weretaken and genomic DNA was obtained by organic extraction. Thegenetic profile of each animal was determined by PCR-fragmentanalysis, using microsatellites D1Mit155, D2Mit493, D3Mit49,D13Mit13, D6Mit8 and D12Mit12, located on six differentautosomal chromosomes and selected from the Mouse GenomeInformatics database (www.informatics.jax.org/searches). Theresults provided key data on the genetic quality of the threeinbred animal colonies studied. They were also served as anexample for other laboratory animal facilities in Argentina and asa starting point to modify the conditions and management oflaboratory animal colonies.We determined the genetic purity ofthe inbred C57BL/6J mouse strain in all animal facilitiesevaluated. All six loci analysed were homozygous, certifying theirisogenicity and phenotipic uniformity. These results arepromising for animal facilities mainly performing biomedicalresearch. They also show a positive evolution in handling animalcolonies and using of the 3Rs, and researchers commitment withanimal science, since they promote the supply of geneticallyquality-controlled animals. The positive impact of these resultsshould encourage other researchers using this inbred strain toperform periodic genetic monitoring, there by consolidating thesupply of quality-controlled mice. This pioneering study carriedout in IGEVET (CONICET-UNLP), should consolidate the geneticmonitoring of inbred strains throughout the country