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Development of the piglet neonatal intensive care unit for translational research

Abstract

The piglet is an important animal model in biomedical research; many aspects of its anatomy, physiology and metabolism are similar to those of the human neonate. The authors describe a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for piglets. This unit allows researchers to model neonatal care in the NICU and can be used for a range of research studies. The authors hope that the model they describe can serve as a template for other investigators who would like to design their own piglet NICUs.

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Figure 1: Layout of the piglet facility, approximately to scale.
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Figure 5: Personnel and activities involved in non-survival surgery and tissue collection.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Kristin Smith, Adam Katzman, Gary Borum, David McDonald, Marshall Haynick and the countless other InvestiGators who have contributed to the piglet experiments.

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Correspondence to Peggy R. Borum.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Lennon, D., Zanganeh, T. & Borum, P. Development of the piglet neonatal intensive care unit for translational research. Lab Anim 40, 253–258 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0811-253

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