IACUC Policy IV
Biological Materials Used in Rodents

Screening Cell Lines, Hybridomas and Other Biological Materials for Contamination with Murine Pathogens

Background:

Colonies of research rodents are susceptible to infection with a variety of microbial agents. In the vast majority of cases these agents produce no clinical signs yet, produce physiologic changes that may alter and in many cases invalidate research carried out on infected animals. Many of these agents have the ability to spread through rodent colonies once they have been introduced. Routes of introduction of these agents include infected animals from outside the University, contaminated biological materials that are subsequently introduced into rodents, personnel who have become contaminated and feral rodents on campus.

Biologicalal materials such as cell lines and their products are frequently introduced into rodents for a variety of experimental purposes including monoclonal antibody production and tumor cell lines for cancer research. The sources of these biological materials include other rodents, human tumors and cell lines maintained in tissue culture or frozen for long periods of time. The materials may originate from laboratories on campus, other research institutes or from commercial suppliers. All of these materials are subject to contamination with murine pathogens that may be transmitted to the recipient animal. Once introduced into the recipient, that animal may be a reservoir of infection for other animals in the colony.

Purpose:

The purpose of this policy is to minimize the potential for introducing murine pathogens into PSU rodent colonies.

Policy:

Biological materials such as cell lines and their products that will be introduced into rodents housed in PSU rodent colonies must be tested for and certified free of the following murine pathogens before they may be used in rodents. The agents below represent those pathogens that pose a risk to PSU colonies based on the potential to impact experimental results, the potential to spread to other animals within the colony, and the prevalence of the agent.

Testing:

Biological materials may be tested at several rodent diagnostic laboratories by PCR testing or Mouse Antibody Production (MAP) testing. Contact the Animal Resource Program veterinary staff at 865-1495 for specific recommendations. Please note that commercial suppliers do not routinely test cell lines for murine pathogens.

Hybridomas for in vivo Monoclonal Antibody Production:

Hybridomas represent a fusion of two cell lines including a lymphoid cell line collected from mice immunized on campus and a myeloma (plasmacytoma) which often originates from an outside commercial source. Cell lines such as plasmacytomas, from outside sources must be tested or certified free of the pathogens listed above. Once they have been certified free, they need not be re-tested. Each individual hybridoma need not be tested provided that the plasmacytoma has been tested and that the other component originated from pathogen free PSU colony mice.

Last Approved by the IBC on 02/06/2008
Last Approved by the IACUC on 12/08/2008