Micro-Pack

Micro-Pack™ Portion Controlled Feeding Includes These Features	Optimal Feeding programs just got easier to administer thanks to Micro-PackTM, the new pre-weighed, portion controlled feeding packages available from LabDiet®.
	Risk Assessment and Dietary Restriction
	Gordon Ballam, PhD.
1. Each Micro-Pack™ Shipping Unit Contains 800 Easy-Open Feeding Packets 2. Three Packet Size Options   Packet Code Weight 11120 16 Grams 15061 18 Grams 11481 22 Grams 3. Each individual pre-weighed Micro-Pack™ Pouch is clearly identified with:   a. the formula code b. date of manufacture c. packet gram weight   4. Micro-Pack™ products for rodents consist of LabDiet® Certified 5002 Rodent Formula.	The laboratory rat has become one of the most important animal models for biological and biomedical research. In the 1960’s, the Pharmaceutical Industry developed standard protocols for toxicity and carcinogenicity studies in rodents for Risk or Safety Assessment of new chemicals and drugs. The standard protocol for testing new chemicals and drugs involved feeding these compounds to rats over a two-year period of time. Unfortunately, the two-year survival of rats fed the control diet in these studies has declined over the past thirty years throughout the pharmaceutical and chemical industry. The declining survival has caused some regulatory agencies to question the adequacy of the standard rat bioassay used for carcinogenicity and toxicity studies. Providing rats unrestricted access to feed in long term Risk Assessment studies is highly correlated with high mortality. The practice of free-choice feeding is one of the most significant factors	increasing degenerative disease and tumors and decreasing longevity in laboratory animals. Controlling the amount of diet offered to laboratory rats, to 70% to 75% of the level provided by free-choice feeding, significantly increases survivability in long term Risk Assessment studies. Controlling food intake using a moderate program of dietary restriction reduces age-related renal, cardiac and endocrine diseases without adversely influencing physiology, metabolism, clinical biochemistry or pathology. Controlling food intake in this manner, significantly improves the sensitivity and reliability of long-term carcinogenicity and toxicity studies by improving survival, exposure time and statistical sensitivity to detect a true treatment effect. The Micro-PackTM feeding program was developed to meet the needs of investigators interested in precisely controlling the feed intake of their study animals. Micro-PackTM offers pre-weighed portion controlled feeding packages in either 16, 18 or 22 gram sizes.