Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the reproductive characteristics of indoor-housed Meriones meridianus.Methods According to the data of Meriones meridianus from 1996 to 2002 in the Center for Laboratory Animal research of Xinjiang, the sexual maturity period of male and female animals, the gestation period of female animals, the litter size, weaning rate, survival rate, sex ratio per month and different fetal times were statistically analyzed.Results Sexual maturity period of male and female animals was 109.3 ±21.0 days and 106.3 ±21.7 days, and gestation period of female animals was 21.3 ±1.4 days.The litter size, weaning rate of different fetal times showed no significant difference compared between those of the first to seventh litter ( P>0.05) , and the survival rate of fourth and sixth litter were lower than that of the average offspring per litter, but the difference was no significant (P>0.05).The sex ratio of from first to sixth litter indicated no significant difference ( P>0.05 ) , and the average proportion of male and female was 1.4:1.0.During a year, the animals almost stopped to reproduce from September to November, however, the differences of litter size between the other months were statistically not significant ( P >0.05 ) , the weaning rate and survival rate per month suggested a significant difference ( P <0.05 ) between some of the months.Conclusions Compared with the background data of wild Meriones meridianus, the laboratory reproduction of Meriones meridianus show some differences, mainly, the season of breeding is shifted to December, and the number of reproduction increased by one or two litters.Our results provide useful reference for laboratory animalization of Meriones meridianus.

Objective To investigate the neuroprotective effect of acupuncture combined with a Chinese medicine, Danhong injection, on focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.Methods Middle cerebral artery ( MCA ) occlusion was prepared by putting a nylon suture in the MCA.The MCA blood flow in the animals was restored at two hours after the MCA occlusion by withdrawing the suture to the external carotid artery (ECA).The acupoints“Baihui”(DU20) and “Zusanli”(ST36) were acupunctured and stimulated by twirling the acupuncture needle after reperfusion, and the rats were also administered with Danhong injection by intravenous injection, once every day for three days.Zea-Longa scores were recorded to assess the changes of neurological function. The rats were sacrificed at 72 h after reperfusion. Triphenyltetrazolium chloride ( TTC) staining was used to measure cerebral infarction size.Western blot was used to test the level of Bcl-2 and Bax in the ischemic penumbra.Results The acupuncture combined with Danhong injection treatment group displayed markedly lower neurologic deficit scores, reduced ischemic infarct surface, increased expression of Bcl-2 protein, and reduced expression of Bax protein, compared with those in the model group and Danhong injection alone group.Conclusions Acupuncture combined with Danhong injection show more significant neuroprotective effect than Danhong injection treatment alone on rat models of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Objective To establish a method focusing on regulation of CNN3 gene in the rat hippocampus and help to explore the role of CNN3 gene played in the brain physiology and pathology.Methods One cDNA sequence and three shRNAs targeting CNN3 gene were designed and synthesized.The recombinant lentivirus-mediated expressing and three short hairpin RNA ( shRNA) vectors targeting CNN3 gene in the rats were constructed with engineering technology.All recombinant vectors were intravenously injected into rats hippocampi guided by stereotaxic apparatus.Western blot was performed to explore the best shRNA and to study the changes of CNN3 gene in the rat hippocampus after transfection with the silence and over-expressed vectors.Results The lentivirus-mediated vector expressing CNN3-OE and three shRNA vectors targeting CNN3 gene were successfully constructed.Within eight weeks after transfection, the vectors of CNN3-OE and three CNN3-shRNAs changed the expression of CNN3 gene in the rat hippocampus, in particular, all the protein levels of calponin-3 encoded by CNN3 gene were significantly down-regulated along with the time, with the highest inhibitory rate of 73.6%in the CNN3-shRNA2 group.Significant up-regulation of calponin-3 protein level by 93.88%, was found only on the 14th day after transfection.Conclusions Lentivirus-mediated vectors of CNN3-OE and CNN3-shRNAs may regulate in vivo the CNN3 gene level in the local brain region of rats via stereotactic injection.The study lays a foundation for disease prevention and treatment in the future.

According the current National standard for laboratory animal, herpes B virus antibody must be tested and negative for all the breed/tested macaques,howere,in fact the positive rate is around 60-70% in breeding colony. Being the National Standard, if it is too far from the reality of the filed, weighing and changing should be made.Hardness/crispness degree of laboratory animal diet never been considered as a listed value in the National Standard for Laboratory Animal to identify the quality of diet.In fact, this index affects a lot about daily diet intake and physiological status of laboratory animals.Hereby, the authors suggest to take the index into the National Standard, to assess the quality of laboratory animal diet in a more comprehensive way.

The outbreaks of Zika virus infection in different regions of the world underscore the potential for the virus to spread further in the Americas and beyond.Zika is a mosquito-borneFlavivirusand is transmitted by Aedes spp. mosquitoes.It is has been reported recently that Zika virus intrauterine infection causes fetal brain abnormality and microcephaly, and WHO encourages pregnant women in countries at risk MUST protecting themselves from mosquito bites. Until now, there is no imported case in China.We have established resource and technology storage to reply to the potentialZika cases in the future, therefore, people do not need to panic in China.

Micronucleus ( MN) assay as a routine examination for genotoxicity has been widely used.The testing specimens were taken from bone marrow and extended from blood and tissues.In addition to testing genotoxicity of drugs, it is also applied in disease diagnosis for genetic mutation, evaluation of curative effectiveness and disease prevention. Moreover, MN assay is also an important safety indicator for drugs and health foods registration.This review will discuss the staining method of MN test and its application in the field of diseases and virology.

Based on the analysis of the standards of bacteriological quality monitoring of laboratory animals in developed countries, this paper provides suggestion for modification of bacteriological quality monitoring of laboratory mice and rats in China.

In this paper, some items about the microbes listed in the current National Standard of Laboratory Animals were reviewed, including their host spectrum, impact of infection on the animals, their interference on research works and their epidemiology in laboratory animals.This paper may provide some clues for the update of our National Standard of Laboratory Animals.

Chemical disinfectants are generally used for virus inactivation and environment disinfection in biosafety laboratory, and the efficacy and evaluation of the disinfection are critical to ensure the laboratory biosafety.However, there is a current lack of applied standard to evaluate the virucidal efficacy of chemical disinfectants in our country.In this paper, a European Union standard“Method and Requirements of Virucidal Quantitative Suspension Test Method for Chemical Disinfectants Used in Human Medicine” was analyzed and a standard transformation scheme has been proposed.It is suggested that the model viruses should be increased from 3 to 6, including the surrogate viruses to substitute highly pathogenic viruses, and that the method to remove the residual chemical disinfectant and the calculation of 95%confidence interval should be incorporated into the standard.The suggestion will improve the scientific and operational standards related to disinfection and sterilization in biosafety laboratory in China.

Laboratory animal industry forms an independent, comprehensive system responsible for the production, use and management of laboratory animals.Great advances have been made in this field in China over the more than thirty years of development.However, due to the great development and changes during this long time, there are also some issues which need to be amended and changed.To compare the concepts of experimental animals in China and developed countries such as USA.The key concepts on the laboratory animals are not well or clearly defined in the regulatory documents in China, which hinder the healthy development and effective regulation in this field, as well as the care and use of laboratory animals in research and education.In this article, we discuss the necessity of timely amendment and standardization of the key concepts and definitions related to laboratory animals, and the importance and impact of the key concepts on the development of animal industry in China.