Objective: To investigate growth of Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces in BALB/c mice and gerbils and their susceptibility for secondary cystic echinococcosis.Design of study: Prospective experimental study.ANIMALS: Forty two BALB/c mice, fifty four gerbils and one rabbit were used.Material and Methods: Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces were aspirated aseptically from fertile sheep hydatid cysts of lungs and livers. Protoscoleces were checked under light microscope for motility to ensure viability prior to passage. BALB/c mice and gerbils were inoculated interperitoneally. Each animal received approximately 2000 protoscoleces. A single rabbit was also injected with about 200,000 protoscoleces. ANIMALS were euthanized and investigated for the presence of protoscoleces or developing cysts.Results: By the second week post-infection (wpi), in both mice and gerbils, some white glistening masses of 2-3 mm in diameter were visible in the abdominal cavity. At six wpi 6-8% of protoscoleces were viable. Over the course of infection (46 weeks) 38 mice (92%) were developed hydatid cysts. For gerbils the rate of cyst development after 72 wpi was 83.3% (45/54). The infected rabbit was euthanized at 56 wpi and 15 hydatid cysts were developed.Discussion: The development of granuloma (2-3mm) around protoscoleces after 2 wpi in both gerbils and mice indicated that a host cellular response was made to the parasite. Decreasing viability of protoscoleces indicates that they may be damaged by host immune system. According to our results mice and gerbils could be infected for secondary echinococcosis. Gerbils were shown to be superior to mice in terms of the development rate of fertile cysts.

Background and Objective: Using ANIMALS in science have had major contributions in progression of human knowledge. However, this contribution has been always accompanied with varying degrees of pain and suffering for these sentient creatures, whom they are completely unable to defend their rights. In a humane and ethical point of view, we humans are responsible for protecting them. One of the most important means for protecting LABORATORY ANIMALS (LA) is to educate researchers according to the highest available ethical and scientific standards, thus developing the concept of “responsible researching” among the scientific community. The aim of the current study was to develop a comprehensive guide for the care and use of LA in the country. This guide is also aimed to provide a basis for the activity of the ANIMALS’ ethics committees in the country.Materials and Methods: The current qualitative study was based on a Health System Research platform and is formed according to the structured communication technique of experts’ panels based on the Delphi method. Primarily any available ethical codes of LA research in the country were collected and integrated. Then, they were compared with the ethical codes of the selected countries and any necessary modification or update of the primary codes were performed to prepare a draft of the comprehensive guide.Results: The draft was evaluated by a selected panel of experts in several rounds to achieve the maximum convergence between the experts. Results are presented narratively.Conclusion: The final version of the guide is presented along with this paper.

Background: Animal utility in the field of medicine and LABORATORY sciencse has always been common throughout human history. Regarding ANIMALS as creatures incapable of thinking or feeling has led scientists to use them without any moral criteria. Today, however, what turns out to be a challenging issue is the new set of scientific and moral concerns that reflect the unpleasant outcomes of such uses of ANIMALS. At present, use of alternative methods instead of animal utility, reduction in the number of ANIMALS used for experimental purposes as well as application of methods that meet animal welfare demands either before, during or after conducting the experiments are some of the major issues that come up along with the discussion on the method of conducting an experiment and its authenticity. Behavioral and moral codes concerning LABORATORY ANIMALS - alternatives- have been introduced as solutions to achieve such objectives.Methods: In this paper, through proposing and defining such codes, we have tried to give an overall picture of their nature and ultimate objectives so that the extent to which they can prove applicable and effective becomes clear.Conclusion: Rapid improvement of science and technology and the need human beiy to verify the scientific authenticity and immunity of these methods clarify the necessity of animal use in experimental processes. In this regard, novel alternative methods can render such uses methodical. Today, however, due to many limitations, we do not have the means to apply them to the optimum efficiency level. At any rate, it is expected that through excessive efforts to apply such methods, we can reduce the rate of animal use in labs and hence, witness the use of limited number of ANIMALS in better conditions arranged to meet animal welfare demands.

Trichosomoides crassicauda is a thin nematode in the urinary bladder and renal pelvis of rats and in some cases can cause urolithiasis and tumor. This parasitic infection may have been done adverse effect on the results of research works. Therefore the study of parasitic infection in breeding center is essential. In this research in a Wistar and Sprague-Dawley strains of rat colony number of 110 adult rats of both race and sex were randomly selected and were examined after autopsy. The histopathology of bladders and so lungs were done for presence of parasite larvae. In 60 examined Wistar rats, in the 54 (37 female and 17 male) and in 50 Sprague-Dawley rats, in the 43 (31 female and 12 male) parasitic infection was found. Immature worms separately and male and female adult worms were seen together. In the uterus of female worms, the eggs containing larvae were detected. In urinary bladder of 12 rats, the cyst were observed that after unpacking, debris of worms were visible. There were no evidence of tumors in various organs and in histopathology, in many cases, the body of the parasite in tissue sections and hyperplasia and wound was observed in the bladder wall. In the lungs and renal pelvis, there were no evidence of larvae and parasites.