We want to implant Alzet 1007D minipump model delivering drug for 7 days using ICV canulla. Prime time for this model is 6 hours which makes priming quite unpractical if one wants to install pumps in mice between 9 am and 3 pm. Priming each pump separately is almost undoable and priming the evening before (e.g. 4 pm) gives us shorter delivery times between 6.8 and 7 hours. Is it an option to prime all pumps early morning (e.g. 8 am) and use them over the whole day? In this case delivery time will be spread between 7.4 and 7.2 days (including prime speed for early morning implanted animals).
Anyone suggestions?
thanx
It may not touch your problem completely, but I found this webinar very interesting:
https://insidescientific.com/webinar/alzet-implantable-infusion-pumps-insights-for-animal-dosing-durect/
thanx Maurice, interesting webinar. It seems that priming the pump inside the animal is not ideal situation but can be done as long as, I guess, the connecting catheter and cannula are filled with either saline ar the solvent of the drug. regards roland
Roland, priming the pumps overnight should not be a problem, as the reservoir holds sufficient solution to deliver up to 1/3 beyond the infusion period. Priming externally overnight before you implant should result in immediate release at the desired release rate, whereas when you just implant you may have a slower release during the first hours after implantation as the osmotic salt sleeve takes up fluid. Either way, you will have to fill the connecting catheter and cannula with the vehicle or drug.