IVC - Exhaust Air Particle (EAP) PCR marks a change in paradigm in health monitoring of IVC housed mouse colonies

Animal health and hygiene status are central for standardization and reproducibility of rodent studies. Individually Ventilated Cages (IVC) have become the predominant rodent housing system as they prevent aerogenic pathogen transmission and thereby provide bioexclusion and biocontainment.  In view of health monitoring, the major drawback of IvC systems is that Sentinel animals exposed toSoiled bedding (SBS) no longer detect many infectious agents.  A novel method uses Exhaust AirParticle Polymerase Chain Reaction (EAP-PCR) analysis instead of SBS.  The idea of using nucleic acidsassociated with particles in the exhaust air of IVC cage rack systems for microbiological monitoringwas established in the Helmholtz Zentrum München in 2009 1.  Since then, intensive research wasconducted at the Centre with the aim of identifying the materials and the most reliable methods to beapplied to environmental microbiological monitoring of IVCs.