Details： Experimental Animal Facility

The Experimental Animal Facility is located to the south of the Storage Ring building, adjacent to the Medium-length Beamline Facility. The Facility includes laboratory spaces where experimental animals delivered by suppliers are temporarily kept (fed) until the end of experiments, a treatment room for anesthetizing and dissecting experimental animals, and a cell culture room. To conduct animal experiments, you must have your animal experiment plan approved and be registered as an animal experiment researcher in advance. Note that if you wish to use transgenic animals, you are required to follow the specified procedures. For details, such as how to use the facility, procedures for bringing experimental animals into SPring-8, and how to reserve the cell culture room, please check the following.

Location

The Experimental Animal Facility is connected to an adjacent building of the Medium-length Beamline Facility that is located to the south of the Storage Ring Facility. There is no access to the building on the first floor.

Facilities and Equipments

The animal rooms and laboratories in the Experimental Animal Facility are listed below. Please follow the instructions of the manager of each room when conducting animal experiments.

Delivery of Experimental Animals

As a general rule, the experimental animals that can be introduced into the Experimental Animal Facility are mice, rats, guinea pigs, hamsters (all must be SPF animals), and rabbits (must be clean animals). If the use of animals of other species is required, consult the following person in charge before applying for the animal experiment.

（Person in charge）

• Animal Experiment Supervisor: Kentaro Uesugi (e-mail:ueken at spring8.or.jp)at=@
• Deputy Animal Experiment Supervisor: Hiroshi Sekiguchi (e-mail:sekiguchi at spring8.or.jp)at=@
• Experimental Animal Facility Manager: Kazuya Matsuo (e-mail:kmatsuo at spring8.or.jp)at=@

When delivering experimental animals from outside to SPring-8, submit a “notification of delivery” at least one week before the delivery date. The delivery of experimental animals may not be accepted if the notification was not submitted before the due date.

（1）When the ordered animals are to be directly delivered by the vendor of the experimental animals,

• Please designate the “Experimental Animal Facility of Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute” as the delivery place of the animals.
• On the day of delivery, the person in charge of delivery at SPring-8 will receive the experimental animals from a supplier.

（2）When the person who will conduct the experiment brings the animals into the Experimental Animal Facility,

• On the day of the delivery, submit the Acceptance Inspection Form (*Japanese) to the person in charge of delivery at SPring-8 for acceptance inspection.

*In addition, the following documents must be submitted.

1. Delivery slip (copy is acceptable) (When the person who will conduct the experiment deliver the animals purchased from a vendor in an unopened original package.)
2. Documents regarding the breeding environment such as the results of bacteriological tests (When delivering animals that had been kept at a university facility etc.)
3. Documents regarding information provision stipulated by law (Genetically modified animals. The animals will not be accepted if the acceptance number of the genetic modification experiment is not informed.)

*Note

• All the experimental animals that will be used in SPring-8 must first be delivered to the Experimental Animal Facility. When conducting an experiment, bring only the animals necessary for one experiment into the beamline.
• Never bring animals into the Experimental Animal Facility or beamline without notifying the person in charge at SPring-8. If such an action is taken, the person who is responsible for the action will be asked to cease the experiment.*In the past, there has been an incident that animals that were brought into the animal room without notice in a cardboard box for shipping that was left unattended, made a hole in the box and almost escaped while the person who delivered the animals was conducting the experiment at the beamline. The shipping container is meant to be used for transport of the animals, and the animals should be moved to a cage as soon as they are delivered to the facility. It is extremely inappropriate to keep animals in the shipping container for a long period of time.

The Period to Keep the Animals

As a general rule, the period to keep the animals is within one month, even if pre-treatment and follow-up are involved. Consult the person in charge at SPring-8, if extension of the period is absolutely necessary.

Feed

The animals are fed a standard solid feed (feed for rats and mice that was sterilized by gamma-irradiation) by the person in charge of keeping the animals. Ask the person in charge at SPring-8 if a special diet is necessary. It is not acceptable for the person who conducts the experiment to feed raw vegetables to the animals.

Pre-treatment

Make sure to inform the person in charge at SPring-8, when pre-treatment that may result in death of the animals was performed (example: monocrotaline administration).
*When animals kept at the facility die, the cause of death, including the possibility of infection, must be examined. This is a huge burden on the facility, and may cause considerable inconvenience to other users.

Use of Anesthetics

(1) Secobarbital
When using secobarbital to anesthetize experimental animals, use that which was prepared at SPring-8. Since secobarbital is a psychotropic agent, delivery to SPring-8 is prohibited by law. Consult the person in charge at SPring-8 when using secobarbital.

(2) Other drugs
Other anesthetics than Somno-pentyl are kept in a chemical closet in the animal treatment room. Comply with the following rules for use.

1. The chemical closet must be locked at all times.
2. Weigh the bottle and record the weight after each time the drugs were used.

Moving the Animals

When moving the experimental animals from the animal facility to the treatment room or outside of the Experimental Animal Facility, use a special cage or carrying case that is covered, so that the animals are not directly visible to other people.
When transferring animals to Storage Ring Facility Experiment Hall, please change the bedding to new bedding.

Animal Experiment in the Beamline

（a）The use of a mobile/sectional animal treatment room

The mobile/sectional animal treatment room is a simple animal treatment room to be used to treat animals in such places as BL28B2 and BL40XU where there are no structurally independent treatment rooms near the beamline. Since there is a separate rule for the number of animals that can be carried in at one time, and the period of time for which the animals can be kept in these rooms, comply with the rule.
When using the mobile/sectional animal treatment room, record the necessary information in the Record of the Use of Mobile/Sectional Animal Treatment Room ( PDF *English ), and submit it to SPring-8 Users Office after completion of the experiment. The Record of the Use of Mobile/Sectional Animal Treatment Room ( PDF *English ) can be downloaded or obtained at the SPring-8 Users Office at the time of visiting the facility.

（b）The use of the beamline hatch

Always install a special device at the entrance door of the beamline hatch to prevent rodents from entering. Take extra care not to let the animals loose while moving them between the treatment room and the beamline hatch.

Waste treatment

All animal carcasses and laboratory waste must be returned to the organization to which the experimental worker belongs for disposal. If it is difficult to return the waste, consult the person in charge at SPring-8.

Precaution

• Laboratory wares and disposables for experiments must be removed after the experiment. If they are left behind, they may cause trouble if they are used by the next user.
• The timer is set to automatically turn the lighting of the animal rooms on and off. Use the switch for the night light when entering the room at night. Turn off the night light when leaving the room. Do not turn on the night light during the day. Never change the setting of the timer to use the night light.
• Eating and drinking are not allowed in the Experimental Animal Facility and other places for animal experiments. Follow the precautions posted in each animal room and treatment room.

Self-Inspection and Assessment Report Regarding Animal Experiments

Click here（*Japanese)