November 3, 2024
National AALAS 2024 -- Dose administration via oral gavage, while common in laboratory animal research, requires well-trained and careful technicians to maintain animal health, welfare and data integrity. An animal reacting during dose administration can cause many complications, including increased stress for animals and technical staff, increased indices of behavior-based observations and the risk of a dosing-related error. This can compromise research data, as it can be difficult to distinguish a transient adverse reaction or observation versus the stress stemming from repetitive restraint and procedures. Typically, during oral gavage-dosing, a gauze square that has been submerged in water and wrung out is used to wipe the gavage tube prior to placement. We propose a slight alteration to this process by utilizing broth-infused gauze wipes (one/animal) during dose administration to help alleviate the stress caused by the procedure while also rewarding the animals with a sapid treat. We noted in a 40-dog oral gavage study and a BID 32-dog oral gavage study, both over a course of 28 days, that the introduction of broth wipes caused a moderate decrease in clinical observations relating to dosing. Utilizing data from these two studies, we can conclude that the introduction of broth wipes during oral gavage procedures can moderately reduce clinical observations including vocalizations during gavage tube placement and the number of animals reacting during dose administration. This trial study was conducted using a control group that follows our standard gavage process and two separate groups of different flavored broth (beef and chicken). Behavior during dosing is assessed during this trial study using a scoring system to determine if the use of broth is beneficial for oral gavage dosing.
