WO2002013600A1

WO2002013600A1 - Individual environment control breeding device for experimental animals

Info

Publication number: WO2002013600A1
Application number: PCT/JP2001/006984
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hidenori Kobayashi; Masakazu Suzuki; Norihiko Koyano; Masayuki Kataoka; Masahiro Ushimaru; Tsutomu Fujita; Narumi Tsutsumi
Original assignee: Hamri Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2000-08-16
Filing date: 2001-08-13
Publication date: 2002-02-21
Also published as: JP2002125499A; JP3644906B2

Abstract

Floor mat exchange operation based on manual operation using a number of persons is replaced by automatic exchange operation, thereby eliminating difficulties involved in conventional floor mat exchange operation. For this purpose, a rack (1) is provided with a plurality of shelves (2), with a plurality of rows of cages (3) removably attached to each shelf (2). And, each cage (3)is internally provided with a floor net supporting an animal, and a belt conveyor is installed below each row of cages, it being arranged that the belt of the belt conveyor is free to come in and out of contact with the lower surfaces of the cages. Further, an exhaust collecting section is provided with a filter to take samples, which are then analyzed by an analyzer for microorganisms or the like.

Description

Specification

Individual environment control breeding equipment for laboratory animals

The present invention relates to a device for breeding laboratory animals such as mice, rats, guinea pigs, and egrets. Background art

Laboratory animals are bred and managed in fields such as genetic engineering experiments and experiments that infect bacteria and viruses by infecting them. There are facilities such as breeding equipment necessary for the breeding and management of experimental animals, as well as a large number of human labor required for normal breeding of laboratory animals. .

For example, replacing flooring is an important and essential task in managing sanitary aspects, but conventionally replacing flooring has been done manually. However, the breeding rooms for experiments were usually large, requiring a lot of manpower to replace the spray. Therefore, it has been aspired among concerned parties that the work of replacing the floor covering in the breeding room can be performed automatically without manual operation if possible.

In addition, in the existing micro-isolation device disclosed in, for example, US Pat. No. 5,165,362, replacement of the floor covering material had to be performed manually for each cage.

In addition, it has been desired that the inside of the air supply and exhaust duct can be easily cleaned in order to supply and exhaust air equally to each cage and to protect the bred animals from infection with harmful microorganisms.

In addition, prompt detection of harmful microorganisms and other infections in animals kept in cages It was desired that constant monitoring be performed at all times.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and has as its object to eliminate the need for a large number of people to manually replace floor coverings in a laboratory animal breeding apparatus so that automatic replacement can be performed. This eliminates the difficulties of replacing floor coverings in the past. In addition, automatic removal of animal waste

3 and I

It also aims to prevent human-borne microorganisms from infecting laboratory animals by significantly reducing human intervention.

In addition, the aim is to equalize the air supply and exhaust to each cage. Also, the purpose is to make it possible to easily clean the inside of the air supply and exhaust ducts, to eliminate harmful microorganisms (such as contamination by contamination, and to prevent infection of domestic animals).

Furthermore, even if the breeding animals are infected with harmful microorganisms, the environment is controlled individually for each cage, so that the infection in adjacent cages is extremely low. It also aims to enable early detection and response by monitoring. Disclosure of the invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a breeding apparatus in which a plurality of shelves are provided in a rack and a plurality of rows of cages are detachably provided for each of the shelves according to the invention described in claim 1. A floor net that supports animals is placed, and a belt conveyor is placed below the cage row, and the belt of the belt conveyor is configured to be able to contact and non-contact freely with the lower surface of each cage in the cage row. This is achieved by providing an individual environment-controlled breeding device (hereinafter simply referred to as a “breeding device for laboratory animals” or “breeding device”).

In the invention according to claim 2, the belt conveyor moves vertically. By doing so, the belt of the belt conveyor is configured to be able to contact and non-contact freely with the lower surface of each cage in the cage row.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the air supply and exhaust ducts to each of the cages are each provided with a plurality of branch pipes arranged in a vertical direction and a horizontal direction from each branch pipe. It is configured to include a branch pipe connected to the cage.

The invention according to claim 4 is configured so that a part of the air supply and exhaust ducts can be opened and closed or can be removed.

Further, the invention according to claim 5 is configured to include a means for monitoring infection of microorganisms in the laboratory animals bred in the cage.

Further, the invention according to claim 6 is configured such that each of the cages has an empty bottom surface, and the belt of the belt conveyor covers the bottom surface of each cage so as to be freely contactable. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the entire configuration of a laboratory animal breeding apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view of a main part showing a structure of a floor covering collecting and belt cleaning apparatus. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a belt compensating frame pull-out means. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of the belt tension adjusting means. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the feeding device. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view showing the structure of the belt cleaning and sterilizing apparatus. FIG. 7 is a plan view of a main part showing a drive mechanism on the gantry side. FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a vertical conveyor frame lifting structure. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view in the width direction of FIG. FIG. 10 is a schematic enlarged view of a portion A in FIG. (A) of FIG. 11 is a front view showing the entire configuration of the apparatus, (b) is a left side view thereof, and (c) is a plan view thereof. (A) of FIG. 12 is a rear view showing the entire configuration of the apparatus, and (b) is a right side view thereof. FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing a branch pipe structure of a supply and exhaust duct. Figure 14 shows branch pipes and branches It is a perspective view which shows the connection structure with a pipe. FIG. 15 (a) is a main part rear view showing the flow of air supply at the rear of the rack, and FIG. 15 (b) is a main part plan view thereof. (A) of FIG. 16 is a main part rear view showing the flow of exhaust air at the rear of the rack, and (b) is a plan view of the main part. 17A is a cross-sectional view of the air supply device, and FIG. 17B is an external view of the air supply device. (A) of FIG. 18 is a sectional view of the exhaust device, and (b) is an external view thereof. Fig. 19 (a) is a side view of the upper part of the cage, and (b) is another side view. FIG. 20 is a side view showing a water supply port at a lower part of the cage in FIG. 20. Figure 21 (a) is a diagram showing the structure of the intake and exhaust ports to the cage, (b) is a cross-sectional plan view, and Figure 22 (a) is the structure of the feed port to the cage. (B) is a side sectional view thereof. FIG. 23 is a cross-sectional view showing the duct opening and closing structure. FIG. 24 is a schematic view showing a structure for removing the duct. FIG. 25 is a diagram for explaining the principle of monitoring. Figure 26 is a block diagram of the means for collecting microorganisms and the like. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a laboratory animal breeding apparatus according to the present invention. —One rack 1 has multiple shelves 2 and multiple rows of cages 3 on each shelf. In each cage 3, depending on the size of the animal, for example, in the case of a mouse, usually several animals are bred together. The cage 3 is supported on the shelf 2 and can be removed. Each cage 3 is provided with an intake port, an exhaust port, a water supply port, and a feed / floor input port, and the breeding environment in each cage 3 is controlled. Each cage 3 has a closed structure, and the animals inside breath and drink drinking water through air supply, exhaust and water supply ports. Exhaust gas from each cage 3 is prevented from entering the other cages 3 to prevent group infection. Arrange and connect the air supply and exhaust ducts of the entire rack 1 It is preferable to make the duct particularly vertical so that the inside of the duct can be easily cleaned.

In each cage 3, a floor net supporting animals is arranged, and this floor net is detachably supported by the cage 3. In addition, there is a floor bedding input port at the top of each cage 3, from which materials used as floor bedding, for example, sawdust, are dropped into the cage and supplied. Further, a belt conveyor is arranged below each cage row, and the belt surface is usually in close contact with the bottom surface of each cage 3. The bottom surface of each cage 3 is open, and the belt surface closes the bottom of each cage 3 in a sealed state. The floor covering material is supplied into the cage 3 from the supply section, and is deposited above the belt, and partly also above the floor net, forming an animal floor covering. The cage 3 may be made of metal or resin. The shape is not particularly limited except that the bottom surface is empty.

As will be described in detail later, the belt conveyor is slidably supported by the frame of the rack 1 so as to be able to move forward (to the left in FIG. 1) by a certain distance. In addition, it is configured to move down a certain distance. As shown in FIG. 1, a trolley 4 provided with a floor covering collecting device, a belt washing device, a belt sterilizing device and the like is provided on the side of the rack 1. These devices are installed on a gantry 5, and the gantry 5 can be moved up and down by a lifting / lowering mode 10. The trolley 4 is usually installed separately from the rack 1, but it can be installed on either side of the rack 1 on the left or right side when collecting the floor covering and washing the belt. Move sequentially to each shelf 2 of the rack 1 to collect floor coverings and wash the belt. Note that both the rack 1 and the trolley 4 have a gap underneath and can move freely.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the main part showing the structure of the floor covering collection and belt cleaning device. The belt conveyor above the row of racks is supported by a frame 11, and the front and rear of the belt 12 are bridged between the head pulleys 18 and tail pulleys 15 installed in the width direction, respectively. Has been passed. The belt 12 is an endless belt and can rotate to an endless belt. For convenience of explanation, the upper belt is referred to as an upper belt 12a and the lower belt is referred to as a lower belt 12b. Here, referring to FIG. 4, the position of the tail pulley 15 can be moved in the front-rear direction by rotating the bolt 22, thereby making it possible to apply an appropriate tension to the belt 12. ing. As described above, usually, the upper belt 12a is in contact with the bottom surface of each cage 3, and each cage 3 is in a sealed state.

By the way, when replacing the floor covering, the above-described cart 4 is installed on the side of the rack 1 and the gantry 5 is lowered by the lifting motor 10 from the upper shelf in order. At the front end of the frame 11 that supports the belt conveyor, an upwardly convex fitting 17 is attached. At this time, the tip of the arm 7 attached to the gantry 5 engages with the bracket 17 of the frame 11 (see FIG. 3). When the conveyor pull-in motor 6 operates in this state, the entire frame 11 is pulled out to the near side. As can be seen from FIG. 2, wheels 13 are mounted on both sides of the above-mentioned frame 11 at a plurality of locations, and the wheels 13 are composed of peaks 14a and valleys (flat portions) 14b. The upper belt 12a is in close contact with the bottom surface of each cage 3 in this state as described above.

When the frame 11 is pulled out as described above, the wheels 13 of the frame 11 are lowered from the ridges 14a of the fixed rails 14 to the valleys 14b, and the frame 13 Since the entire 1 1 is lowered, the upper belt 1 2a is separated from the bottom of each cage 3 and is in a non-contact state. At the same time, the frame 11 is mounted coaxially with the head pulley 18 at the front end. The gear 19 for belt conveyor rotation and the gear 20 on the drive side attached to the gantry 5 are engaged. FIG. 7 shows the drive mechanism on the gantry 5 side. According to this, the output of the drive motor 8 is transmitted via the gear 28, the step belt 21, the gear 29, and the gear 20. The belt 12 is transmitted to the gear 19 for belt conveyor rotation, and the belt 12 is driven to rotate. Reference numeral 26 denotes a support frame of the gantry 5, and reference numeral 27 denotes a bearing.

As described above, since the frame 11 is pulled out to the front and the entire frame 11 is lowered by a certain distance at the same time, the floor covering material that had been deposited in each cage 3 at this time is Fall on the belt 1 2 (upper belt 1 2 a) away from the bottom.

As shown in FIG. 7, the rotating brush 9 for cleaning, which extends coaxially with the gears 29 and 20 in the width direction, is fixed. The laying material is removed by the rotating brush 9 while being transported on the belt 12 and collected. The washed pellets 12 are further sterilized and disinfected by the chemical discharged from the chemical tank 25 (see FIG. 6).

After cleaning the belt 12, return the frame 11 to its original position. The wheels 13 of the frame again ride on the peaks 14 a of the fixed rails 14, and the belts 12 come into close contact with the bottom of each cage 3. Belts 1 and 2 are cleaned and cage 3 is supplied with new floor covering. During this time, the animals in cage 3 are supported by the floor net.

When the frame 11 is pulled out and a gap is formed between the cage 3 and the belt 12, control is performed so that the amount of air supplied to the cage 3 is increased.

In addition, the food is individually fed by a feeding device having a sealable structure as shown in FIG. The feed is sterilized beforehand and stored in a feeding device. In the structure shown in Fig. 5, after the bait is weighed to a certain amount in the drum section 23, It is carried to the lower supply port, and the supply port 24 is opened by the weight of the bait, and is hooked in the cage 3.

Next, another embodiment of the belt conveyor frame up-and-down moving structure will be described.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the up-and-down moving structure of the belt conveyor frame, FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view in the width direction in FIG. 8, and FIG. 10 is a schematic enlarged view of a portion A in FIG.

The front and rear four wheels 31 are mounted on the left and right sides of the belt conveyor frame 30 and ride on rails 32. As shown in FIG. 10, the rail 32 has a horizontal plane above the mountain, an inclined plane, and a horizontal plane below (the valley) the mountain. Referring to FIG. 9, the rail 32 is fixed to a slide guide 33 guided by a guide rail 34 attached to a rack 35. Therefore, when the rail 32 moves back and forth by a distance D (one stroke) by the lever 38, the belt conveyor frame 30 moves up and down along the inclined surface of the rail 32. At this time, the guide plate 37 attached to the belt conveyor frame 30 engages with the upper and lower guides 36 attached to the rack 35, so that the belt conveyor frame 30 can be moved in the horizontal direction. The movement is restricted, and the belt conveyor frame 30 is configured to be able to move only in the vertical direction when the rail 32 is reciprocated back and forth.

Next, the configuration of the air supply and exhaust ducts in the breeding apparatus of the present invention will be described.

(A) of FIG. 11 is a front view showing the entire configuration of the apparatus, (b) is a left side view thereof, and (c) is a plan view thereof. (A) of FIG. 12 is a back view showing the entire configuration of the apparatus, and (b) is a right side view thereof. Fig. 13 is a perspective view showing the branch structure of the supply and exhaust ducts, and Fig. 14 is a perspective view showing the connection structure between the branch pipes and the branch pipes. FIG. FIG. 15 (a) is a main part rear view showing the flow of air supply at the rear of the rack, and FIG. 15 (b) is a main part plan view thereof. (A) of FIG. 16 is a main part rear view showing the flow of exhaust air at the rear of the rack, and (b) is a plan view of the main part. Also, (a) of FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view of the air supply device, (b) is an external view thereof, and (a) of FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view of the exhaust device, and (b) is an external view thereof. .

At the top of the rack, an air supply port 39 from the air supply device is provided, and a main air supply pipe 47 is horizontally provided facing the air supply port 39, and a lead is provided below the main air supply pipe 47. A plurality of vertical branch pipes 4 1 ···, 4 2 ··· are attached. A plurality of branch pipes 43 and 44 are attached horizontally from each branch pipe, and the tip of each branch pipe 43 and 44 is connected to an air supply port or an exhaust port of each cage 3. The branch pipes 41 for the air supply and the branch pipes 42 for the exhaust are alternately arranged (see Fig. 13 etc.), and the branch pipes 4 3 attached to the branch pipes 41 for the air supply are provided. Is connected to the air supply port of each cage 3, and the branch pipe 44 attached to the branch pipe 42 for exhaust is connected to the exhaust port of each cage 3. The distal end of the branch pipe 43 on the cage connection side is provided with a small-diameter stainless steel pipe 43 b and a packing 43 a to ensure airtightness at the time of connection. Therefore, each cage 3 is connected to two branch pipes 41, 42 for air supply and exhaust, respectively. In addition, in the plurality of branch pipes 43 provided in the vertical direction of the supply branch pipe 41, the diameter of the lower branch pipe is appropriately reduced in order to equalize the amount of air supplied to each cage 3 in the vertical direction ( It is also possible to reduce the diameter.

The air supplied from the air inlets 39 passes through the main air supply pipes 47 and enters the upper part of the branch pipes 4 1… for each air supply, and flows from the top to the bottom in each branch pipe 41. Air is supplied into each cage 3 through each branch pipe 43. Arrows in Fig. 15 indicate the flow of air supply. Then, the exhaust air from each cage 3 passes through the branch pipes 4 4 and enters the branch pipes 4 2... For exhaust, flows downward in each branch pipe 4 2, and the exhaust air from each branch pipe 4 2. Collected by the lower main exhaust pipe 4 8, each cage 3 The exhaust gas is sent upward again together, and is exhausted from the upper exhaust port 40. Arrows in FIG. 16 indicate the flow of exhaust gas.

An air supply device is attached to the air supply port 39, and an exhaust device is attached to the exhaust port 40. The air supply device 49 is provided with a fan 50 from below as shown in FIG. , An ultra-high-performance filter (HEPA filter) 51 and a pre-filter (coarse filter) 52 are combined, and the exhaust device 53 is a pre-filter 52, an ultra-high-performance filter from below, as shown in Figure 18. 5 1 and a fan 50 are combined.

With the configuration of the air supply and exhaust ducts described above, the air supply and exhaust to each cage 3 can be equalized.

In addition, water is supplied to each cage 3 using a water supply nozzle 45 from a water supply pipe 46.

Here, the configuration of the cage 3 will be further supplemented.

Fig. 19 (a) is a side view of the upper part of the cage, and (b) is another side view. Fig. 20 is a side view showing the water supply port at the lower part of the cage, (a) in Fig. 21 is a figure showing the structure of the air supply and exhaust ports to the cage, and (b) is a cross-sectional plan view thereof. (A) of FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a structure of a feed port to a cage, and (b) is a side sectional view thereof.

As shown in FIG. 19, a lid 54 is placed on the upper part of each cage 3 so as to maintain the hermeticity. One side of the lid 54 is provided with the above-described air supply port 55 and exhaust port 56, and the other side is provided with a feed ■ floor bedding input port 57. Further, a water supply port 58 is provided on one side of each cage 3 as shown in FIG.

As shown in Fig. 21, covers 55a and 56a urged in the direction to always close by the coil spring 59 are attached to the air supply port 55 and the exhaust port 56. And press the branch pipes 4 3 and 4 4 It is a configuration that can be set. In addition, as shown in Fig. 22, a power bar 57a urged by the coil panel 60 in the direction to be always closed is attached to the floor feed port 57 as shown in Fig. 22. Push the cover 57a inward to feed.

Next, the above-described cleaning of the air supply and exhaust ducts will be described.

The breeding apparatus of the present invention is configured to be able to clean the air supply and exhaust ducts. For example, as shown in FIG. 23, a part of the main air supply pipe 47 is opened and closed by providing a lid 63 that can be fixed at one end with a hinge 61 and fixed at the other end with a fastener 62. Configure as possible. Open the lid 63 and pour washing water (clean water) from above to wash the inside of each duct. After washing and drying, close the lid 63 to maintain hermeticity.

Further, as shown in FIG. 24, the vertical branch pipes 4 1,..., 4 2. it can. When the branch pipe is, for example, a square duct, the flange 64 is of a bolted structure, and when the branch pipe is a round pipe, the flange 64 is of a hinged structure.

In this way, by providing a structure that can easily and sufficiently clean the air supply and exhaust ducts, it is possible to prevent contamination by harmful microorganisms, etc. o

Next, monitoring of harmful microorganisms will be described.

As shown in FIG. 25, the breeding apparatus of the present invention is provided with a collecting section 66 for monitoring microorganisms and the like in an exhaust section 65 where exhaust gases from all the cages 3 in the rack 1 gather. Monitoring is possible at all times by collecting samples and analyzing them with an analyzer for microorganisms and the like. For example, the exhaust portion 65 is provided in front of the exhaust device 53 described above, and for example, a filter for collection is installed by a known appropriate means. In this case, the exhaust flow (piping Depending on the structure), it can be installed at the edge as shown in (a) of Fig. 26 or at the center as shown in (b). In another embodiment, a small-diameter duct for bypass is attached to the exhaust collecting part 65, a collecting part for microorganisms is provided in the duct part of the bypass, and the sample is collected to analyze the microorganisms. It is also possible to analyze by.

By the way, as described above, when bacteria and viruses are monitored from the exhaust of all cages, for bacteria, the filter is placed in a bouillon, cultured for 24 hours, and the upper solution is spread on various selective media. Incubate for ~ 48 hours. Inspect various selected media.

For viruses, wash the filter with sterile water, centrifuge the water, and inspect the precipitate by the PCR method. The PCR method is a method of amplifying and detecting a very small amount of DNA by several million times using the DNA polymerase chain reaction ¾> · σ o

In this way, sampling is performed at the position where exhaust from each cage gathers, and even if any animal is infected, by collecting microorganisms and the like that are exhaled or dust that is discharged from the atmosphere, early collection is possible. Infection monitoring can be performed at the same time. Industrial applicability

As described above in detail, according to the breeding apparatus for laboratory animals of the present invention, the work of replacing a floor covering, which conventionally required a lot of labor, can be performed automatically. Also, by significantly reducing human intervention, infection of laboratory animals by microorganisms derived from humans can be prevented. Further, unlike the case where the floor mats are exchanged manually, there is no need to make the entire breeding room accommodating the breeding equipment into an ultra-clean space, which results in effects such as energy saving and equipment cost reduction.

Further, according to the present invention, the supply and exhaust to each cage are equalized. As a result, variations in the air quality environment in the cage can be eliminated, and a favorable environment suitable for breeding experimental animals can be realized.

Further, according to the present invention, the inside of the air supply and exhaust ducts can be easily and sufficiently cleaned, so that infection of breeding animals by harmful microorganisms and the like can be prevented.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, even if a domestic animal is infected with harmful microorganisms, etc., it can be detected and dealt with early by constantly monitoring.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. A breeding device in which a rack is provided with a plurality of shelves and a plurality of rows of cages are detachably provided for each shelf, and a floor net supporting animals is arranged in each cage, and a cage row is provided. A belt conveyor is disposed below the lower surface of the cage, and the belt of the belt conveyor is configured to be able to freely contact and non-contact with the lower surface of each cage in the cage row.

2. The laboratory animal according to claim 1, wherein the belt conveyor is configured to move up and down so that the belt of the belt conveyor can freely contact and non-contact with the lower surface of each cage in the cage row. Individual environment control rearing clothing for

3. The air supply and exhaust ducts to each cage are divided into a plurality of branch pipes arranged vertically and branch pipes arranged horizontally from each branch pipe and connected to each cage. The individual environment controlled breeding apparatus for laboratory animals according to claim 1, characterized by comprising:

4. The individual environmental control animal housing for laboratory animals according to claim 3, wherein a part of the air supply and exhaust ducts is configured to be openable / closable or removable.

5. The individual environment-controlled breeding equipment for laboratory animals according to claim 1, further comprising means for monitoring microbial infection of the breeding laboratory animals in the cage.

6. The individual environment control for laboratory animals according to claim 1, wherein the bottom of each cage is vacant, and the belt of the belt conveyor covers the bottom of each cage so as to be freely contactable. Breeding equipment.