Commercialization of Anesthesia Delivery Devices for Pre-clinical Research
Student: Connor Einertson, 2016-2017
Sponsor: In Vivo Concepts, South Bend, IN
Rats and mice make up 95% of all mammals used in preclinical biomedical research because they are cheap, easily maintained, and possess similar genetics to humans. In many of these cases, researchers seek to observe the rodents throughout their testing using various bioimaging devices which require the use of anesthesia to temporarily paralyze the rats. The problem is that many of these gaseous anesthetics are very harmful when humans are exposed to them. Isoflurane, the most widely used inhalational general anesthetic within this setting, has been linked to numerous genetic mutations as well as acute symptoms such as vomiting and cardiac arrest. In order to combat this problem, In Vivo Concepts has manufactured the Equaflow manifold which provides safety to researchers as well as efficient delivery of anesthesia to rodents. As numerous rodents are hooked up to the manifold, vaporized isoflurane will flow through the device but then be scavenged using a vacuum system before it can enter the atmosphere of the laboratory. In the end, this device is key to the safety of those dealing with rodents in preclinical research. The more labs that use this product, the safer preclinical research will be.