Evaluation of Treatment Options for Ulcerative Dermatitis in the P Rat

Rotational outbred adult rats, phenotypically selected to prefer drinking alcohol ("P" rats) frequently present with selfinflicted wounds and ulcerative dermatitis, similar to that seen in C57BL/6 mice. Historically, veterinary interventions used to address this clinical condition have included triple antibiotic ointment (TABO), Columbia wound powder (CPW), nail trims, or plastic tubes that allow affected animals to hide. More recent studies have suggested that nail trims are the most successful intervention in mice, but this has not been evaluated previously in rats. In this study, we evaluated nail trims in rats and also tested whether placing a pumice stone in the cage would reduce the need for nail trims to reduce self-inflicted wounds. Our hypothesis was that interacting with the pumice stone would dull/trim the rats' nails without causing stress or illness and allow the wounds time to heal. We used 66 P rats that were assigned to 1 of 6 treatment groups (pumice stone, TABO, CWP, huts, nail trims, and an untreated control group) of 11 rats each. Rats were transferred to this study from a colony of experimentally naïve animals that had evidence of dermatitis. The wounds were photographed and measured for 12 wk at 2 wk intervals. At the end of the study, representative skin samples from the site of the wound were collected for histopathologic evaluation of inflammation. Our data showed no significant differences in the inflammation scores. The rats treated with nail trims healed significantly more often than did all of the other treatment groups. This suggests that nail trims are the most effective intervention for treating self-inflicted wounds in P rats.