NEWS

New Analgesia Guidelines & Surgery Records for Rodents

• New "Pain Management" tab on RARC website (see tab above) with analgesia standard treatment guidelines 
• Updated rodent surgery record templates now available 
• Anesthesia and analgesia formulary has been updated

Use of AI when Writing Protocols

Investigators may find that using AI language tools is helpful when writing the non-technical portions of the animal use protocol. There are two sections that might benefit from these resources- the significance and justification and the experimental narrative. However, it is important that investigators only use the enterprise versions of AI tools that have been contracted by the University. These contracts limit the institutional and research data sharing by the AI tools. More information can be found on the UW-IT website. 

RARC Services

RARC has many services available to help your research program be successful. Please see the drop-down menu above under "services" for more details on our:

• Veterinary Anesthesia Core- providing anesthesia services for pigs, sheep, rabbits, ferrets, and more
• Analgesia services- providing extended release buprenorphine for post-procedural small rats and mice
• X-ray services- we can use our portable x-ray equipment to image your research animals
• Comparative Pathology Laboratory- the CPL provides both anatomic and clinical pathology services to diagnose animal health issues and evaluate research questions

Changes to Buprenorphine Dosing Recommended

Following conversations with AAALAC evaluators and a review of the article “Clinical Management of Pain in Rodents,” RARC veterinary staff are recommending amendments to the pain management regimens in some protocols involving rodents. Learn more about the article, new burenorphine dosing recommendations, and the PLATTER approach to managing pain in research animals in this presentation by Dr. Becky Johnson.

Dr. Johnson is a veterinary anesthesiologist for UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and part-time anesthesiologist for RARC. She presented the information in this PowerPoint to all IACUC committees on campus.