A monitoring study of repetitive surgical oocyte harvest in Xenopus laevis
Résumé
Xenopus laevis oocytes provide a successful electrophysiological model for heterologous de-novo expression of channels and receptors as well as for the incorporation of exogenous membrane preparations rich in receptors/channels for pharmaco-toxinological studies. The method of choice for oocyte harvesting is repetitive surgical laparotomy of female adult Xenopus. The lack of policies regulating oocyte surgery in France prompted us to design a follow-up study to assess
the effect of repetitive laparotomy on Xenopus. To this end, we used a batch of 24 female Xenopus which were tagged with an electronic chip. The amphibians were housed by colonies of eight in 20-L plastic containers. Groups of six amphibians were operated every two, three, four and six months. The weight of each female amphibian was recorded before and after the operation. The recovery from anesthesia, the incision healing, the Xenopus behavior and the skin health were also monitored. The impact of repetitive surgery on the oocytes survival following nanoinjection with cDNA, mRNA or Torpedo membranes was systematically assessed. Here, we show that repetitive surgery every two months does affect animal weight. In addition, a four-months-recovery period should be allowed between each laparotomy. However, repetitive surgery does reduce the number of Xenopus used for electrophysiological / pharmaco-toxinological characterization of receptors and channels.
Domaines
Neurosciences [q-bio.NC]
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)