Week Five

This week, I will be repeating Week Three's procedure, which included data recording, experimentation, and management of the laboratory.

Data Recording: On March 7, 2016, we received twelve new rats, so I had to record their mass and their treatments from today until March 14, 2016 in our "Rat Records" binder. The rats' treatments include habituation, surgery, and experimentation.

Surgery: I assisted in preparing individual rat cages for post-surgery recovery and labeling cards for each rat (including its date of birth, weight, and species). We use a clear sturdy cage, which has holes for oxygen repletion. Then, I fill the floor of the cage with bedding, which allows the rat to move around comfortably, yet have a barrier from the floor of the cage when it needs to defecate. Lastly, I close the cage with a metal lid, which has areas for a water bottle the rat can drink out of as it wants, as well as its food (rodent chow).

Experimentation: This week, two experiments are set to run, with six rats participating in each experiment. While experiments proceed, the thermogradient room is locked to eliminate possible error caused by human noise or manipulation of room lighting. Our experiments have the same procedure as past ones, in which we inject medications (based on Menthol and Camphor) to induce a feeling of cold and hot, respectively. We are still trying to determine rat behavior when subject to temperature-altering medication. We are developing a position/time graph that accounts for all experimental and control rat subjects. After each experiment, I will count the rat feces as an indication of stress levels and clean the thermogradient room using our Thermogradient Cleaning Procedure.

Management of Laboratory: I cleaned out our storage room, where supplies including extra gloves, syringes, tissue wipes (Kimwipes) are kept. In our storage room, we also have three large freezers, where cryogenic samples are preserved, as well as a preparation table for samples.