Experimental Surgery Unit

The Experimental Surgery Unit is made up of:

• 1 conditioned room with humidity, temperature and lighting control for housing rats (Rattus norvegicus). It has 3 racks with capacity for 24 cages each.
• 1 room for housing mice (Mus musculus). It has 3 cabinets with individualized humidity, temperature and lighting control.
• 5 surgical posts equipped for inhalation anesthesia, thermal blankets, oximeters and thermometers.
• 1 surgery station located inside a gas extraction hood with inhalation anesthesia equipment and a perfusion pump.
• 4 rat/mouse Doppler (Perimed) cerebral flow simultaneous monitoring systems.
• Puller device for the elaboration of microcapillaries.
• 3 Anesthetic induction chambers specifically for rats and mice.
• 1 stereotaxic for rats, 1 stereotaxic for mice and 1 stereotaxic adaptable to both species.
• 1 heating lamp for the recovery of animals after surgical procedures and the maintenance of body temperature in very young individuals.
• Traps of different sizes for rats/mouses.
• “Cuidador” animal facility management software.

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Currently, in many study areas it is still necessary to carry out in vivo tests before transferring the results obtained to humans. In this regard, rodents are animals widely used in research studies in our country. However, to work with these animals it is necessary to have adequate equipment for their size and physiology.
Thus, in the Experimental Surgery Unit of the Santiago de Compostela Health Research Institute we have the necessary equipment to keep this type of animal in appropriate conditions according to its species, and to perform surgical procedures under anesthesia and analgesia, controlling the physiological parameters during surgery.

Services offered by the Experimental Surgery Unit include:
• Accommodation of rats and mice, both those that are part of the studies carried out in the unit itself, and those that access the facilities to carry out studies in other units such as magnetic resonance imaging and multiphoton microscopy.
• Use of induction chambers and surgical stations with inhalational anesthesia adapted for rodents.
• Use of a surgical station in a fume hood for the fixation of organs and tissues.
• Advice for the preparation of the necessary documentation to request the authorization of a project with experimental animals from the Competent Authority.