Improvements in self-administration studies based on changes in skin button type and surgical technique

Area of Science:

• Preclinical research models
• Surgical techniques in rodents
• Drug self-administration paradigms

Background:

• Evaluated patency and longevity of the intravenous (IV) self-administration surgical model in male Sprague Dawley rats.
• Assessed surgeries based on catheter and skin button repairs across four studies.
• Tracked design improvements in skin button types and surgical procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess and improve the efficiency of the IV self-administration surgical model.
• To reduce the number of surgical repairs required per animal and per study.
• To decrease the overall cycle time for study completion.

Main Methods:

• Trained rats for food reward under fixed ratio schedules (FR5 or FR10).
• Surgically implanted femoral catheters and skin button ports.
• Evaluated drug self-administration, including vehicle or varying doses of test articles, over study durations.

Main Results:

• Study length correlated directly with the mean number of repairs; longer studies had more repairs.
• Skin button-related issues constituted the majority of repairs.
• A lateral incision with a dorsal biopsy punch technique, combined with specific skin button types, minimized total repairs.

Conclusions:

• Improvements in skin button type and surgical techniques significantly reduced required surgical repairs.
• Enhanced model efficiency and decreased overall study completion time.
• Optimized surgical approach is crucial for reliable and efficient rodent drug self-administration studies.