BACKGROUND

The National Institutes of Health have provided guidance (NOT-OD-14-126) on the allowance of certain types of significant changes to animal activities previously approved by the IACUC that may be administratively approved using Veterinary Verification and Consultation (VVC).

IACUC Policy

The Attending Veterinarian (AV) or veterinarians in the Division of Laboratory Animal Resources (DLAR) will determine if a requested change meets the criteria below for VVC review.  If so, the requested change to an IACUC-approved protocol will be reviewed and approved by the AV or delegates.  The AV or veterinarians DLAR are not conducting designated member review (DMR) but are serving as subject matter experts to verify that compliance with the IACUC-approved guidance is appropriate.  The AV or veterinarians in the DLAR will retain the discretion to send any requested changes to either DMR or full committee review (FCR) as appropriate.  All changes approved by VVC will be reported to the IACUC at the next committee meeting.  A veterinarian may make real time changes to clinical medications, husbandry/nursing care, and/or surgical procedures to protect animal welfare.  However, if these changes will become a permanent addition to research procedures, and will change what is stated in the protocol, the protocol must be amended to reflect that change using VVC, DMR, FCR as appropriate.

VVC Criteria

Changes that may be approved by VVC, as long as these do not increase the potential for pain and distress:

1. Changes in the proposed method of euthanasia to any method approved in the approved reference below (1)
2. Changes in anesthesia, analgesia, sedation, peri-operative antibiotics
   1. provided that changes are only to agents listed in an IACUC-approved reference below (2-6), or routes and dosages
3. Change between methods of blood collection (route, frequency, volume) approved in the reference below (7)
4. Change between methods of surgical closure (suture, wound clips, staples, skin glue) (8)

IACUC Approved References

1. AVMA Guideline for the Euthanasia of Animals, 2020
2. Flecknell's Laboratory Animal Anesthesia, 4th edition
3. Plumb's Veterinary Drugs
4. Fish R, et al. Ed. Anesthesia and Analgesia in Laboratory Animals, 2^nd Ed. 2008.
5. Swindle M, et al. Swine in the Laboratory: Surgery, Anesthesia, Imaging, and Experimental Techniques, 3rd Ed. 2016.
6. Wayne State University DLAR Veterinary Recommendations for Anesthesia and Analgesia
7. Wayne State University IACUC Blood Collection: Maximum Volumes and Fluid Replacement Standard Operating Procedure
8. Wayne State University Principles of Rodent Surgery Standard Operating Procedure

Approved March 23, 2022