Question 1

Rat Tickling Certification Course

Accepted Answer

Tickling is increasingly recognised as an effective means of improving laboratory rat welfare through mimicking natural play habits. Here we bring together resources on rat tickling and how it can be used to promote positive human-animal interactions.

This online course from Purdue University, which was funded by the Animal Welfare Institute, was created by Dr Megan LaFollette (North American 3Rs Collaborative) and colleagues with the aim of allowing you to become certified in the correct rat tickling technique.

This course is best for individuals who want to apply rat tickling in their facilities and receive a certificate for their efforts.

For those who do not wish do get a certificate there is the option of undertaking the rat tickling open course, which will allow you to learn a few things about rat tickling. You can access the rat tickling open course using the same link as the certification course - just click on the 'open course' option when prompted.

Access via the NC3Rs website at nc3rs.org.uk/3rs-resources/rat-tickling/rat-tickling-certification

Question 2

Genetic quality assurance and genetic monitoring of laboratory mice and rats: FELASA Working Group Report

Accepted Answer

Genetic quality assurance (QA), including genetic monitoring (GeMo) of inbred strains and background characterization (BC) of genetically altered (GA) animal models, should be an essential component of any QA programme in laboratory animal facilities. Genetic quality control is as important for ensuring the validity of the animal model as health and microbiology monitoring are. It should be required that studies using laboratory rodents, mainly mice and rats, utilize genetically defined animals. This paper, presented by the FELASA Working Group on Genetic Quality Assurance and Genetic Monitoring of Laboratory Murines, describes the objectives of and available methods for genetic QA programmes in rodent facilities. The main goals of any genetic QA programme are: (a) to verify the authenticity and uniformity of inbred stains and substrains, thus ensuring a genetically reliable colony maintenance; (b) to detect possible genetic contamination; and (c) to precisely describe the genetic composition of GA lines. While this publication focuses mainly on mouse and rat genetic QA, the principles will apply to other rodent species some of which are briefly mentioned within the context of inbred and outbred stocks.

DOI: 10.1177/0023677219867719

Rat Tickling Certification Course

Genetic quality assurance and genetic monitoring of laboratory mice and rats: FELASA Working Group Report

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