Animal Models Core - Roberts

Animal Models Core Abstract The goals of the Animal Models Core are to ensure that standardized behavioral and biochemical operating procedures are used across laboratories, to supply animals dependent on alcohol using chronic intermittent ethanol vapor exposure (CIE model), and to provide blood alcohol level (BAL) determinations to The Scripps Research Institute Alcohol Research Center (TSRI-ARC) investigators. In this renewal we are adding to our mouse vapor chamber capacity to meet the increased needs of the research components. In addition, our gas chromatograph system has been optimized as well as the means to request this service and provide BAL data back to requestors in a timely and efficient manner. Centralization of these services prevents unnecessary duplication of resources and effort, provides substantial time- and cost-savings for research components, and promotes standardized quality control and increased consistency across projects. In order to continue the important model development and optimization goals of the Animal Models Core, we plan to extend and strengthen the phenotypic characterization of withdrawal and protracted abstinence in the mouse CIE model and to examine a strategy for removing the need for pyrazole + ethanol injections prior to vapor exposure. The Animal Models Core will promote integrative, efficient, and high-quality research that is the foundation of the ARC research goals and mission.