The first week in the lab has passed and soon will come the second week. I've been deviating so much from the actual work I need to do that I'm truly and most terrifyingly behind on my lit review. So far, I've only read one review and another paper on the effects of reelin' expression on cell migration in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, and even so neither of them I can talk about without uncertainty.
However, this week I've been on a steep learning curve, with the first and second day running around in the lab preparing artificial CSF and RNA/DNA mediums, trying to remember which chemicals have to be kept in under 4 degrees, -20 degrees and -80 degrees, or in the water bath, and when to switch the temperature, and when to remove them from those temperatures. Huge pain in the arse, I might say, that the supervisor seems to place a large amount of trust in my memory by giving me instructions as a passing comment. One time, I forgot to remove the artificial CSF from the magnetic stirrer on my second day and left the solution at room temperature overnight, and so I had to remake a new batch on the day next and so there was a delay in the rat brain harvest surgery.
There were 2 cool events that happened in my first week, one of them by chance. On Tuesday my lab partner Gabi was showing me on how to weigh rats when one of the status epilepticus rats went into grade 5, then 4, then 6 seizure. Grade 6 is most terrifying and is also known as 'popcorn' among the lab people - because it is when the rat jerks violently up and down like popcorn popping. I thought 'popcorn' was a bit of an understatement because the rat jumped up and down so violently that the lid above broke off and the creature unconciously made its escape. Thankfully, Gabi was quick enough to lift it and hoist it back into the cage before the rat fell off the table. The second cool event (but perhaps not too cool) was the rat brain harvest. Rats had to be guilotined for the brain harvest and since general anaesthetics will alter the methylation status in the brain, decapitation had to be done with the rat fully awake (and writhing for its life). I'm thankful that I'm not ethically permitted to decapitate a rat, because it's terrifying watching a living creature being killed like that, let alone doing it. My only job in this process is to wipe up the arterial blood spurt and wash the bloody equipment. Until now I can still remember the rat's eyes as they widen with fear when the blades hit all 4 sides of its neck, and that gaping mouth to let out one last unheard squeak. I don't think I will forget this, ever.
Ok, I think this will do for now. Time for dinner!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
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...it sometimes makes me wonder whether all the apparent strictness of the animal ethics committee that I have been exposed to in the past few days were, in fact, just for show...
ReplyDeleteThen again I should know it. After all what they do when they audit labs around uni is just doing balance sheets. Mice in=mice out. Then all's well.
BTW... was that Srigala???
Sri? O.o Joey Joes? Do I have permission to use this name all the time, from this point forward?
ReplyDeleteUmm...
ReplyDeleteDoes Joey joes sound more similar to someone else other than Srigala?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you mention ethics but I'll have to disagree with Hong on this one. Lab people do treat the animals well in general, like coming in on the weekends to take care of the animals when they're sick, giving them boxes and shredded paper, and handling them with care (although this doesn't apply to everyone). Only a restricted number of people are permitted to cull without anaesthetics is because they have been trained to do it swiftly (like the speed of stapling) to minimize the pain felt. Not using anaesthetics or euthanasia is justifiable in the case where DNA methylation is involved because these chemicals act on the CNS and changes epigenetics. But, everyone here does acknowledge what they're doing is horrible. But recently I've seen the killing of chicken for food production and that's even more horrible than this. :'(
ReplyDeleteJoanne