Anesthesia and Euthanasia of Brine Shrimp (Artemia franciscana)

Invertebrates are often overlooked as laboratory animals, yet they are commonly used in toxicology, developmental, cellular and molecular biology, and radiation studies with euthanasia as an endpoint. Little is known regarding appropriate euthanasia methods for invertebrate species, particularly for Artemia. Here, we evaluated the AVMA-recommended 2-step method of euthanasia in brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana). Artemia were exposed first to anesthetic solutions of 60% alcohol, 2.5 mg/L eugenol, or 4 g/L tricaine methanesulfonate (TMS) and then were transferred to euthanasia solutions of 70% alcohol, 95% alcohol, or 10% neutral buffered formalin. We examined time to anesthesia, behavioral response to anesthesia, anesthesia recovery, and time to euthanasia. Our results show that 2.5 mg/L eugenol and 4 g/L TMS inconsistently achieved anesthesia. Although 60% alcohol produced anesthesia, the time to anesthesia varied among replicate groups, and exposure resulted in an increase in abnormal behavior. We therefore do not recommend any of the tested anesthetic solutions for use in Artemia. Although all 3 euthanasia solutions were effective, more research is needed to provide recommendations regarding euthanasia for this species.