Rationale:

Through surgical ovarian biopsies, an individual frog can serve as a source for thousands of oocytes over its two to three year reproductive lifetime.  However, while multiple oocyte harvests from an individual frog will reduce the total number of animals used, the need to minimize pain and distress of the animal is a requirement of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Guide).  Critical to the avoidance of pain and distress in frogs undergoing multiple major survival surgeries is the ability to identify which frogs have recently had surgery.  All frogs subjected to multiple ovarian biopsies must be properly identified.   

Applicability:

These guidelines apply to all frogs used for oocyte collection.

Recommendations:

• The primary recommendation for frog identification is documentation of pigment patterns by photography or sketch.  Since a frog’s spotting pattern is unique, a photograph or sketch of the back of the frog allows for differentiation of frogs in the same tank.
• Toe clipping is not an acceptable procedure for frog identification.

Contact Information:

For any additional questions please contact the IACUC Manager at 5-6420.