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Flushing induction chambers used for rodent anesthesia to reduce waste anesthetic gas

Lab Animal volume 40, pages 76–83 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Anesthetic induction chambers used for medical research are a substantial source of waste anesthetic gas (WAG). Ideally, any generated waste gas should be actively vented away from personnel operating the chamber by either a ventilated hood or snorkel. Unfortunately, the ideal environment for anesthetizing rodents is not always available. In an effort to create a safer environment, the authors designed a system to reduce WAG. This system is portable, can be adapted to different precision vaporizing anesthetic systems and fits in a variety of physical locations. The system flushes anesthetic gas out of an induction chamber before operators open the chamber. To ensure that the system was adequately flushing the anesthetic gas, the authors measured WAG concentration in the environment above the induction chamber and directly behind the vent of an activated charcoal filter. They also compared the efficiency of the filters in vertical and horizontal positions. Finally, they measured the recovery time for mice and rats after flushing the anesthetic gas from an induction chamber. The results show that flushing the induction chamber was an inexpensive and effective method for reducing WAG accumulation in the air surrounding the chamber.

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Figure 1: A precision vaporizing anesthetic system with an added flushing device.
Figure 2: Comparison of isoflurane concentrations with and without flushing the induction chamber.
Figure 3: Average isoflurane concentrations (from gas monitoring badges) at the exit vent of charcoal filters.

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Acknowledgements

J.W. and M.C.D. conceived, designed and carried out the experiments; analyzed the data; contributed reagents, materials and analysis tools; and wrote the paper. We thank Toby Donajkowski for fabrication of the induction chamber and Steven F. Bolling, PhD, and Mitchell Seymour, MS, for providing animals. We thank David Marlow of the University of Michigan's Biomedical Technology Services and Ben Phillips for technical support. We thank John A. Williams, the Director of the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, and Joseph M. Metzger, the Director of the Center for Integrative Genomics, for providing necessary facilities and financial support.

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  1. Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, the Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

    Janet Wolforth

  2. Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

    Melissa C. Dyson

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  1. Janet Wolforth
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  2. Melissa C. Dyson
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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Wolforth, J., Dyson, M. Flushing induction chambers used for rodent anesthesia to reduce waste anesthetic gas. Lab Anim 40, 76–83 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0311-76

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