Lithos-system technology in the assessment of the organismal state of laboratory animals

Abstract

Relevance: One of the leading problems of experimental physiology and pathophysiology is the definition of the norm in the assessment of homeostasis. Among the most significant markers for assessing the health of laboratory animals, one can single out biochemical and hematological blood tests, urine and feces tests, and for large animals - ultrasound and X-ray diagnostics. However, these methods do not provide an integral assessment of the state of the animal's body.

Aim: to establish the capabilities of the Lithos-system technology for determining the state of homeostasis in the body of laboratory animals (rats), to identify the frequency of occurrence in the blood serum of systemic markers indicating the level of homeostasis, which is important when deciding on the possibility of using an animal in a particular experiment.

Materials and methods: The study was performed on 73 mature rats - outbred or Wistar - weighing 300-390 g. Blood was collected from the tail vein in a volume of 0.5 ml. Blood serum analysis was performed using the Lithos-system technology.

Results: During various pathological processes in body tissues, cells produce specifically conformed protein molecules that are released into the general circulation. The Lithos-system technology, through standardized dehydration of blood serum, allows creating conditions for the self-organization of these molecules. As a result, specific formations are formed in the facies (dry film from a drop of blood serum) – markers of various types of pathological processes. The laboratory animals taken for the study, according to the indicators of SEMI marker structures, mainly had a physiological status. However, some of them were found to have certain pathological deviations.

Conclusion: When selecting laboratory animals for experimental studies, it is necessary to check the state of their body. The Lithos-system technology can serve as an optimal method for such a check. In addition to its high diagnostic value, the technology has important advantages: wide availability (simplicity of technical methods), use of a small volume of blood (especially valuable when working with small animals) and high cost-effectiveness (the method does not require any reagents or equipment other than general laboratory equipment).