Abstract
Abstract
Background:
This project designed and tested an economical apparatus to safely expose guinea pigs to biohazardous aerosol. The goals were to design a system that can be easily decontaminated, fits in a biosafety cabinet, and affordable.
Methods:
It is composed of three main chambers housed in an outer box that fits within a conventionally sized biosafety cabinet. The animal chamber contains a removable housing unit for either four or eight guinea pigs. The aerosol chamber is separate to minimize contamination. The nebulizer chamber is also sealed to reduce risks from leakages. This apparatus is easily decontaminated by immersion in disinfectant.
Results and Conclusions:
This system has been tested for safety, ergonomics, efficiency of rodent exposure to bacteria, airflow, access points, seal mechanisms, and size. This system is effective, consistent, safe and cost efficient.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
