Refinement of oral gavage

Oral gavage can be stressful to laboratory animals. There are several refinement options and alternatives to oral gavage. Their suitability in a specific experiment has to be checked carefully.

Refinement examples for rodents

• Sugar coating gavage needles
• Use of anesthesia
• Habituation / training

Examples for alternatives to oral gavage (voluntary drug intake)

When possible drugs can be mixed with palatble food that is ingested voluntary by the animals. There are several examples described in the literature, including the voluntary intake of analgesics via nutella (see also analgesia).

• Honey
• Jam, e.g. strawberry jam
• Micropipette Drug Administration (MDA) with condensed milk