Animal Facility

For animal experimentation, in compliance with the current legislation Legislative Decree 26/2014: Tecniplast IVC mouse cages, OPTIMICE cages for mice and OPTIRAT for rats, CS5EVO plus Tecniplast cage changing station , De Lama pass-through autoclave, VHP Steris peroxidation system, ACo cage washer, 2 pass box for access to the barrier structure, Aco air shower.

The various instrumentation such as IVC and OPTIMICE and OPTIRAT cages enable the breeding and housing of small rodents, under the best welfare conditions to carry out research projects involving animal experimentation.

In the Preclinical Research Laboratory (LARP), there is also equipment for changing cages and washing cages and sanitizing food, water and any material that comes in contact with the animals. 

Functional equipment platform for assessment: 

• Pain: determination of nociceptive threshold to thermal stimuli (tail retraction test, hot plate test, plantar test) and to chemical nociceptive stimuli (formalin test). Development of migraine models; 

• Anxiety-related behaviors: equipment to perform the most common tests such as elevated plus maze test and open field test. Both tests can be automated using the ANY-Maze video tracking system;

• Depressive type behaviors: equipment to perform the most common validated tests such as forced swimming test, tail suspension test and learned helplessness test; 

• Cognitive performance: equipment to perform the most common validated tests such as novel object recognition, object location test and barnes test; 

• Motor performance: functional equipment to study locomotor activity, the ANY-Maze video tracking system and the rotarod test; 

• Social behavior through major tests such as the resident intruder test and the sociability test. 

Video monitoring platform associated with electroencephalographic (EEG) recording to assess brain electrical activity. 

Behavioral studies to assess motor, sensorimotor (visual, auditory, tactile), cardiovascular, and respiratory (heart rate, respiratory acts, SpO2, systolic and diastolic pressure) responses using a MouseOX and BP2000 instrument. 

• Sub-chronic toxicity studies; 

• Chronic toxicity/carcinogenesis studies.

• Toxicokinetics studies to acquire information on absorption, tissue distribution, metabolism and excretion pathways of the test substance and its possible metabolites and investigate the mechanism of toxicity and target organs.