When does your IACUC cover zebrafish?
Posted 191 days ago, on Jun 29 2008Colleen Boggs
Hi,
When does the IACUC at your institution cover the zebrafish? I've asked around and some groups start immediately and some institutiuons don't seem to cover them until day 7.
Colleen
2 Comments:
Dave King
In the UK fish are considered covered by the home office act
"Once embryos are five days old and capable of independent feeding"
Christian Lawrence
3 days post-fertilization(dpf). This is in accordance with the OLAW guideline which states that oviparous species of vertebrate species are considered "animals" and are therefore subject to PHS policy upon hatching. Zfish hatch at 2.5 dpf at 28C but since there is some range to this (often they don't hatch until 3 days, especially if held at lower temps) we chose 3dpf as our average time of hatching.
Many labs use a later date, such as 5 or even 7 dpf, based on yolk-sac absorption, etc. but this deviates from PHS policy. However, you can get away with this, for now at least, because so much of fish regulation is a "grey" area.
This stuff makes a big difference. If your cut-off is late, your animal numbers on IACUC protocols will be markedly lower than they would be if you set limits at hatching, especially if people are working on earlier stages.
CL