Rodent chow 5001 laboratory chow

This study was conducted using 130-150g female Fischer-344 rats, obtained from Charles River Laboratories, Inc. (Wilmington, MA). All animals were acclimated to our colony conditions for 3 months to mature and to reach appropriate experimental weight of 160-180g. The animals were fed Purina Rodent Chow 5001 laboratory chow and water ab libitum. All surgical procedures were performed in an aseptic environment, with animals in a deep plane of anesthesia induced by isoflurane or intraperitoneal injections of sodium pentobarbital (65mg/kg). Supplemental doses of sodium pentobarbital were administered as required to maintain an adequate depth of anesthesia. All animal care and animal surgery procedures were in accordance with The Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals [10 ] and the protocol was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

Cells used in this study were obtained from the soleus muscles and bone marrow from 120 to 220g female Fischer 344 rats, obtained from Charles River Laboratories, Inc. (Wilmington, MA) and Harlan Laboratories (Haslett, MI). All animals were acclimated to colony conditions for at least 1 week prior to any procedure. Animals were fed Purina Rodent Chow 5001 laboratory chow and water ad libitum. These animals were used for either cell harvest or implantations. The harvested tissues were used as an allogenic cell source of muscle precursor cells and bone marrow-derived stem cells for production of muscle and bone-tendon tissues that were later implanted into the host animals. All surgical procedures were performed in an aseptic environment, with animals in a deep plane of anesthesia induced by isoflurane or intraperitoneal injections of sodium pentobarbital (65 mg/kg). Supplemental doses of pentobarbital were administered as required to maintain an adequate depth of anesthesia. All animal care and animal surgery procedures were in accordance with The Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals [6 ] and the protocol was approved by the University Committee for the Use and Care of Animals.