Crawford Long Cardiothoracic Research Laboratory

The CTRL Facility opened in 1988 and houses various species including mice and rats. All mice and rats enter the Cardiothoracic Research Laboratories from other facilities on campus, after completion of Emory’s Quarantine Program or from approved vendors. All mice are housed in microisolator caging on static racks and the water is acidified. All rats are housed in open top cages on static racks and the water is acidified. Currently, there is one BSL1 mouse room and one BSL1 rat room housing approximately 20 rats and 500 mice

The health status of our rodent colonies is evaluated quarterly by serology and parasitology performed on sentinel animals. The serology samples are outsourced to commercial laboratories and the parasitology is run in house. In all mouse rooms up to 4 sentinel cages, containing two 4-6 week old CF1 mice, are placed on every rack and replaced quarterly. Each sentinel cage monitors 35-70 mouse cages. Three times a week, each pair of sentinel mice are placed directly into the soiled cage of a colony mouse immediately after it has been removed.  At the end of 3 months the sentinels are replaced and the exposed sentinels are held 6 weeks for seroconversion, and are then euthanized for health monitoring. All mouse colonies are tested for endo-parasites, ecto-parasites, and the following pathogens during the first three quarters: MPV, Sendai, PVM, MHV, MVM, GDVII, Reo-3, M. pulmonis, EDIM, and MNV. Every 6 months Ectromelia is added and during our last quarter of testing we also include the following: LCMV, K, Polyoma and Mouse Adenovirus.

In all rat rooms, a sentinel cage with two 6-8 week old Sprague Dawleys is placed on every rack and replaced yearly. Each sentinel cage monitors up to 56 rat cages. On ventilated racks, or where rats are housed in caging with filter tops, sentinel rats are placed directly into the soiled cage of a colony rat three times weekly. In areas where rats are kept in static cages without filter tops, the sentinel cage is kept on the bottom shelf of the rack, also without a filter top, but they are not exposed to dirty bedding from colony animals. All rat colonies are tested for endo-parasites and the following pathogens during each quarter: Sendai, PVM, SDAV, KRV, H-1, Reo-3, M .pulmonis, and RPV.

Emory University colonies are not regularly screened, but are believed to be free of the following pathogens: Mouse thymic virus (MTV, MTLV), Mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV), Lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus (LDEV), Bordetella bronchiseptica, CAR Bacillus, Hantavirus, Corynebacterium kutscheri, Streptobacillus moniliformis, Salmonella, Citrobacter rodentium, and pathogenic streptococci.

Mice from Emory University are potententially colonized with the following organisms: Helicobacter hepaticus, H. muridarum, H. bilis, Pasteurella pneumotropica, Proteus spp, staphylococci, and fecal coliforms and enterococci.

While we have no reason to believe that there are other pathogens in this facility, we recommend that all shipments from Emory University are isolated from other rodent colonies until confirmatory health assessments can be done. Additional testing can be performed prior to shipment upon request of the receiving institution.
All questions can be answered by the Animal Health Quality Assurance Manager in the Division of Animal Resources at 404-712-9902.