[The recovery and rearing of gnotobiotic lambs and their use in veterinary medicine].

Our own innovated method of the hysterectomy recovery of gnotobiotic lambs, modified equipment for gnotobiote rearing, management and tending techniques were tested in this study. A hysterectomy hood (Fig. 1) was made from plexiglass and it fully met the requirements for simple and rapid handling. Our own modified isolator for gnotobiotic lamb rearing (Fig. 2) made out of glass-reinforced plastic with plexiglass sight holes was used for group rearing. It was more resistant to mechanical damage in comparison with the isolators equipped with PVC sheet pouches. The use of an isolator for feed and material (Fig. 3) and of an isolator for waste material storage with a PVC sheet pouch was found to be very practical; these isolators were connected to the rearing isolator through piping. The ventilation system was sufficient enough. An emasculator was used for hysterectomy. The method is simple and rapid, reliable and it enabled to preserve lambing ewes for other experimental purposes. Gnotobiotic lambs were successfully fed a milk replacer for calves. Samples of biological material (blood, rumen fluid, droppings) were taken from lambs kept in the isolator. The isolators were sterilized with 2% solution of peracetic acid sprayed as aerosol. Milk, materials made of glass and metal were autoclaved at a temperature of 121 degrees C, pressure 1.2 atm, for 30 minutes, and the concentrate mixture was sterilized with an X-ray dose of 2.5 Mrad. All the used methods of sterilization were fully efficient. A modified method reliably detecting lamb and isolator contamination was used for microbiological monitoring.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)