1056 
ANIMAL RESOURCES 
laboratory support in these areas. Thus, the role 
of these laboratories takes on an expanded sig- 
nificance by providing services extremely diffi- 
cult to obtain in most institutions through reg- 
ular human diagnostic laboratories. This 
resource is, of course, not limited to the scientists 
outside of these laboratories, but can be devel- 
oped as an integral part of a faculty member's 
research laboratory, when applicable. This is 
certainly the case at Yale and this combined use 
and manner of staffing is one solution to the 
problem of establishing quality service labora- 
tories. Table I lists the routine clinical chemis- 
try procedures ordered either by the clinical 
veterinarian, the veterinary pathologist, or in- 
vestigators requiring analysis of animal tissues 
or fluids. 
The relationship of these laboratories to each 
other, the referring veterinary clinician or sci- 
entist, and the research disciplines of the fac- 
ulty of Section Laboratory Animal Sciences 
(SLAS) are diagrammed in Figure 1. 
The mechanical aspects of processing and re- 
porting data and of information retrieval will 
not be described in detail (see related papers in 
this symposium) . Briefly, however, requests for 
pathology usually come through the veterinary 
staff. Provisional diagnostic reports are usually 
returned to the investigator and the veterinary 
clinician within 24 hrs. Further processing of 
material, i.e., serology, virology, bacteriology, 
clinical chemistry, histopathoiogy, depends on 
Table I. — Procedures that can be Ordered through the 
Diagnostic Clinical Chemistry Laboratory 
Clinical Chemistry 
Protein Electrophoresis 
Immuno-Electrophoresis 
Gas Chromatographic Patterns 
Acid Phosphatase 
Aldolase 
Creatinine Phosphokinase 
Isocitric Dehydrogenase 
Phosphohexose Isomerase 
Ribonuclease 
Paper Chromatography of Sugars 
Paper Chromatography of Amino Acids 
Glycoproteins, Protein Bound Hexose 
Seromucoid, Hexoseamines, etc. 
Total Protein 
A/G Ratio 
Inorganic Phosphate 
Amylase 
Lipase 
Lactic Dehydrogenase 
LDH Isoenzymes 
Glucose 
Blood Ui'ea Nitrogen 
Creatinine 
Uric Acid 
Sodium 
Potassium 
Chloride 
Bilirubin. Total 
Bilirubin, Free 
Bilirubin, Conjugated 
SGO Transaminase 
SGP Transaminase 
Alkaline Phosphatase 
Fatty Acids 
Cholesterol 
DIVISION HEALTH SCIENCE RESOURCES 
Section Lob. Animal Sciences { SLAS ) 
SERVICE 
i 
VETERINARY CLINIC 
-RESEARCH 
Comp. Path; Virology 
Microbial Metabolism 
Physiological Psycholog 
Toxicology 
Vendor Screen 
Quarantine 
Colony Scree 
Overt Diseose 
Figure 1. — Interactions of Laboratories with Veteri- 
nary Clinicians, Investigators, and Research Activi- 
ties of the Section of Laboratory Animal Sciences. 
the judgment of the pathologist and the clinical 
veterinarian. Final reports are dictated, placed 
in permanent files, and a final list of diagnoses 
are sent to appropriate people. This close work- 
ing relationship is the key to successful applica- 
tion of data generated from the diagnostic labo- 
ratories. Straightforward requests for services, 
i.e., hematology, clinical chemistry, etc., are 
processed routinely and reports are sent to the 
requesting individual. A partial review of the 
diagnostic activities of these laboratories over 
the past few years lists over 35,000 chemistries 
and 13,000 necropsies processed to date. 
The research interests of most of our faculty 
in the Section of Laboratory Animal Sciences 
(SLAS) usually relates directly to the animal 
colonies. Natural disease of research animals 
represents an unfortunate occurrence, but the 
alert investigator may turn this event into a 
potential source of meaningful research informa- 
tion. Not only can the natural history of dis- 
eases be studied, which may have applied bene- 
fits to disease control, but important animal 
model systems may be recognized and charac- 
terized. The remaining portion of this paper 
deals with a few disease problems encountered 
at Yale and their possible relevance to the sub- 
ject of this symposium. Research Animals in 
Medicine. 
An explosive, infectious disease causing high 
mortality in suckling mice between the ages of 
1-19 days with peak mortality between 10-14 
days was experienced in our closed barrier- 
maintained ICR mouse production colony.- This 
