4th RESAMA Days

In order to study the extreme capacities of response to stress, regeneration and longevity within IRCAN, we have set up a marine aquatic experimental platform. In several species of cnidarians, sea anemones and corals, we have optimized their culture conditions in a controlled environment. This allowed us not only to reduce their mortality and increase their reproduction rate, but also to shorten their life cycle in order to remove obstacles in the development of genetic engineering approaches.

This presentation will attempt to explain why and how citizens, experts and the European legislator, through Directive 2010/63/EU, came to be interested in cephalopods. She will provide a quick overview of research on these animals in Europe. Based on a few case studies, it will highlight certain difficulties that researchers may encounter in the application of current regulations, which are essentially based on vertebrate models.

Cephalopods are animals with impressive adaptability, having the largest and most complex brains of all invertebrates. They exhibit a whole range of complex and very elaborate behaviors. In the laboratory, cuttlefish are used more than squid and octopus, which are more difficult to raise. The maintenance of these animals in a confined environment raises numerous ethical and animal welfare questions. Indeed, in the same way as vertebrates, cephalopods are subject to Directive 2010/63/EU.

The absence of a framework (zootechnical and ethological) does not make it possible to effectively assess the impact of the projects submitted on cephalopods. The production of specific behavioral repertoires with precise items should ultimately allow better consideration of the suffering of cephalopods in experimentation.

Taiwan Zebrafish Core Facility at NHRI, TZeNH (National Health Research Institutes) is a national zebrafish stock center. The facility contains water centralized-circulating housing system where lighting, temperature, water quality are controlled, tanks are bio-coded and daily operation is performed according to SOPs and regulated by the veterinary of NHRI. The facility encompassed around 1200 fish tanks in 120 m2 surface area and with a total fish number around 30,000. It's an AAALAC accredited animal since March 2015.

To ensure the wellbeing of experimental zebrafish the facility user needs to be trained prior access to the facility. Fish welfare has been the first priority of the facility daily operations, including establishing a fish health monitoring system, implementing good practice of husbandry, environmental control (macro- and micro-) anesthesia and euthanasia and executing“3R” principle in writing animal protocols.

Through providing basic and advanced training workshops TZeNH also serves as a training center to promote the proper usage of zebrafish and help the community to establish the “good practice” based on international standards The ultimate goal of TZeNH is to facilitate the zebrafish research excellence of Taiwan.

A group of Experts (see Laboratory Animals 2019, Peter Aleström, Livia D’Angelo, Paul J Midtlyng, Daniel F Schorderet, Stefan Schulte-Merker, Frederic Sohm and Susan Warner) commissioned by FELASA and EuFishBioMed have drawn up recommendations for the breeding of zebrafish. These recommendations aim to provide a minimum common base for the breeding of zebrafish to European laboratories. They also provide a basis on which dialogue between animal store managers, SBEA members and veterinary inspectors can be based.

As with terrestrial animals, handling aquatic animals can cause stress, anxiety and injury. Within certain limits, they can be acclimated to handling. However, unlike terrestrial animals, their living environment in which they evolve is very distinct from ours.  They have developed biological and physiological sensitivities and adaptations that it is essential to take into account. We will address the particularities of aquatic environments and their species, to better understand their sensitive particularities, and through concrete examples illustrate avenues for refinements applicable during manipulations (capture, transport, restraint).

A national network of structures responsible for animal welfare is being set up under the aegis of AFSTAL, GIRCOR and OPAL. This network's mission is i) to be a source of information for SBEAs, ii) to be a place for exchange and sharing, iii) to organize training iV) to coordinate, gather and share V) to work on SBEA and ethics committee relations.

The parasites found in Xenopus are numerous and taxonomically very diverse, as is often the case in amphibians. Parasitic protists are difficult to study and this is why we undertook a study in which we sought to identify the protists found in different species of Xenopus from Central Africa, while including Xenopus tropicalis raised in laboratory animal facilities. We searched for free and parasitic forms in five species of Xenopus, both in adults and tadpoles, using a sequencing approach using digestive tract samples. We present the results of this sequencing, as well as the protist composition, focusing on parasites: coccidia, gregarines, microsporidia, ichthiosporea etc. Generally, the prevalence of these parasites is high and reveals significant permeability between the aquatic environment and the Xenopus parasitic fauna. A majority of protists are shared between different sympatric or parapatric species. Farmed animals carry very few parasites compared to wild animals.

Since the last presentation in 2016 of the results of the analyzes carried out within the framework of RESAMA, the number of animals sampled has doubled, new species of fish have been examined leading to new detections of pathogens. This presentation updates the detection rates of the main pathogens, reveals the evolution of the prevalence of Pseudoloma and Mycobacterium by age group, and brings a focus on certain parasitoses encountered in Xenopus.

The new accommodation area for zebrafish was set up on the Arnaud de Villeneuve campus in spring 2018. It consists of 2 independent systems including 10 accommodation racks and a genotyping rack. The larvae/fry are fed using rotifers in separate tanks for approximately 4 to 15-20 days post fertilization and then are returned to the systems where feeding is done with dry food.

The aquatic animal center on the Route de Mende is home to 2,500 zebrafish and 450 Xenopus Laevis. Seven research teams use these animals as their main study model. The clutches from these two species are recovered and used for the experiment.

The zebrafish animal facility on the UFR de Médecine campus Nîmes has an independent housing system with 500 fish. The room is lit with “daylight” neon tubes. Concerning the maintenance of the fish lines, the larvae less than 3 days old are directly raised in the system and fed from D5 with a dry food rich in protein, then after D10 with Artemia in addition to the dry food. The eggs are collected and used for experimentation.

The first animal facility created at the University of Montpellier in 1996, it is a common structure for two research units: LPHI Study of Host/Pathogen relationships and MMDN Study of neurodegenerative diseases. Its characteristics: equipped only with stand-alone and feeding with Tetrahymena, from 5 days.

The decree of October 8, 2018 requires the marking of all non-domestic animals held in captivity. Xenopus, wild animals, are affected by this regulation which requires marking using an RFID transponder. The CRB Xenopes platform encounters difficulties at this level because the implanted transponders are lost over time, at a variable delay after installation of the chip.  Here we take stock of the different protocols that have been tested such as the location, the size of the transponder, the methodology, and the work paths.