Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana;, Email:
Texas Tech University Health Sciences El Paso; El Paso, Texas.
J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2021 May 1;60(3):311-318. doi: 10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-20-000058. Epub 2021 May 3.
Rotational outbred adult rats, phenotypically selected to prefer drinking alcohol ("P" rats) frequently present with selfinflicted wounds and ulcerative dermatitis, similar to that seen in C57BL/6 mice. Historically, veterinary interventions used to address this clinical condition have included triple antibiotic ointment (TABO), Columbia wound powder (CPW), nail trims, or plastic tubes that allow affected animals to hide. More recent studies have suggested that nail trims are the most successful intervention in mice, but this has not been evaluated previously in rats. In this study, we evaluated nail trims in rats and also tested whether placing a pumice stone in the cage would reduce the need for nail trims to reduce self-inflicted wounds. Our hypothesis was that interacting with the pumice stone would dull/trim the rats' nails without causing stress or illness and allow the wounds time to heal. We used 66 P rats that were assigned to 1 of 6 treatment groups (pumice stone, TABO, CWP, huts, nail trims, and an untreated control group) of 11 rats each. Rats were transferred to this study from a colony of experimentally naïve animals that had evidence of dermatitis. The wounds were photographed and measured for 12 wk at 2 wk intervals. At the end of the study, representative skin samples from the site of the wound were collected for histopathologic evaluation of inflammation. Our data showed no significant differences in the inflammation scores. The rats treated with nail trims healed significantly more often than did all of the other treatment groups. This suggests that nail trims are the most effective intervention for treating self-inflicted wounds in P rats.
旋转杂交成年大鼠，表型上选择喜欢饮酒（“P”大鼠），经常出现自残伤口和溃疡性皮炎，类似于 C57BL/6 小鼠。历史上，兽医干预措施用于解决这种临床情况，包括三抗软膏（TABO）、哥伦比亚伤口粉（CPW）、修剪指甲或允许受影响动物藏身的塑料管。最近的研究表明，修剪指甲是对小鼠最成功的干预措施，但以前没有在大鼠中进行过评估。在这项研究中，我们评估了大鼠的修剪指甲，还测试了在笼子里放一块浮石是否可以减少修剪指甲的需要，以减少自残伤口。我们的假设是，与浮石互动会使大鼠的指甲变钝/修剪，而不会造成压力或疾病，并让伤口有时间愈合。我们使用了 66 只 P 大鼠，将它们分配到 6 个治疗组（浮石、TABO、CWP、小屋、修剪指甲和未治疗的对照组），每组 11 只。大鼠从一个具有皮炎证据的实验性幼稚动物群体转移到这项研究中。每隔 2 周拍摄一次伤口照片并测量 12 周。在研究结束时，从伤口部位采集代表性皮肤样本，用于炎症的组织病理学评估。我们的数据显示，炎症评分没有显著差异。接受修剪指甲治疗的大鼠愈合的频率明显高于其他所有治疗组。这表明修剪指甲是治疗 P 大鼠自残伤口最有效的干预措施。
