We appreciate that optimal resource allocation can help better manage your in vivo studies. Charles River can deliver study-ready animals right to your door, thereby achieving savings for you on space, time, and labor costs.
With state-of-the-art animal facilities, professional animal care, and the most extensive line of animal models to use for your studies, Charles River now brings you the best in preconditioning services. Preconditioned models are animals that are held and fed a special diet or supplement, or are allowed to grow to a certain age before being shipped to the customer. During the preconditioning period, various phenotypic parameters can be measured and recorded on an “as needed” basis. In addition, surgical manipulations can be performed on the animals as part of the preconditioning process. Our husbandry procedures utilize strict biosecurity guidelines developed under the direction of our professional staff at our AAALAC-accredited facilities.
Feeding Studies
With the increased demand to find new drugs for use in the study of obesity, diabetes, nutrition, hypertension, and stroke, many researchers now need animals that have been pre-fed enriched diets. With preconditioning services, you can purchase your animals ready to use and save valuable laboratory space for your actual study.
Custom Diet-Induced Obesity Program
Charles River offers both rat and mouse models for obesity studies. These models can be sent to your facility directly from our barrier rooms, or the animals can be fed a special diet as directed by you to induce obesity at Charles River before being shipped. Typical models used to study obesity include:
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C57BL/6NCrl Mice
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Crl:CD(SD) Rats
Specialty Models Program
Some disease models need to be fed a special diet to accelerate the development of a characteristic trait or condition, such as hypertension or diabetes. We can precondition these models and feed them the special diets necessary for maximum expression of the phenotype of interest. These models include:
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Dahl/Salt Sensitive Rat: Develops hypertension when fed a specific salt diet.
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SHR/SP Stroke Prone Rat: Develops hypertensive cerebrovascular disease. (Note: Although the disease will develop spontaneously in the SHR/SP rat, a much more consistent and higher incidence of stroke will develop when this model is fed a Stroke-Prone diet.)
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Female ZDF Rat: Becomes diabetic in approximately one month when fed a diabetogenic diet.
Aging Studies
In some models, the disease condition develops only as the animal ages. Such models need to be held and aged prior to being placed in a study. Charles River can hold and care for these animals and deliver them to you at the point in time that you determine.
The SHHF rat is a model of congestive heart failure in which all genotypes and sexes are hypertensive and develop heart failure. The obese male will develop heart failure by 13 months of age, the lean male and obese female by 18 months of age, and the lean female after 23 months of age.
The JCR rat is a model of vascular and myocardial disease. Myocardial and atherosclerotic lesions occur in this model after nine months of age. Although early atherosclerotic changes are evident in obese males at 12 weeks of age and increase in severity with age, it is not until nine months of age when essentially all of the obese males have advanced intimal lesions of the aortic arch.
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