Germ free life : gnotobiotic animals, isolators and their use in basic studies, veterinary research and clinical medicine.
- Date:
- 1987
- Videos
About this work
Description
The foetus in utero is biologically sterile, yet almost from the moment of birth the organism begins to develop a highly complex intestinal bacterial flora essential for the maintenance of independent life. This video explains and demonstrates the use of plastic isolators to create a completely sterile environment in which gnotobiotic ("germ free") animals are reared, in order to study the effects of intestinal microorganisms on nutrition, drug metabolism and immune responses. It also shows the use of plastic isolators in the hospital treatment of patients with immunological deficiencies, or who are undergoing transplant surgery. 2 segments.
Publication/Creation
England : Wellcome Trust, 1987.
Physical description
1 encoded moving image (10.11 min.) : sound, color
Duration
00:10:11
Copyright note
Wellcome Trust; 2009
Terms of use
Some restrictions
CC-BY-NC
Language note
In English
Creator/production credits
Made by Wellcome Trust Film Unit. Written by Dr. Marie E. Coates (University of Surrey), narrated by Dr. L.G. Goodwin, F. R. S., directed and photographed by Douglas Fisher.
Contents
Segment 1 The narrator explains that research into microbes in the body has been happening since the time of Louis Pasteur. A drawing of an attempt to make an isolation chamber in 1895 is shown. An isolator made in the 1930s and one from the 1940s is shown. Now, plastic film isolators are used. Mice that have been reared in the sterile environment provided by the plastic film isolators are shown. An illustration of a typical isolator is shown, and the narrator explains how isolators work. The construction of an isolator is shown. The University of Surrey is shown. It is using isolators to research the effects of gut microbes on food additives. The narrator explains what happens to medicine as it passes through both a normal gut and one that has been reared in a gnotobiotic environment. Time start: 00:00:00:00 Time end: 00:05:01:08 Length: 00:05:01:08
Segment 2 The physiologies of two chicks, one gnotobiotic and one normal, are compared. The Agriculture and Food Research Council's Institute for Animal Diseases is shown. Isolators are used there for young farm animals and the investigation of the effects of viral infections on the immune system. These studies can then be applied for human conditions. A large isolator in a hospital is shown, with a female patient inside it. The narrator describes other uses for isolators in treating human illnesses. The isolators can also be used to protect people working with carcinogens and dangerous industrial products. Time start: 00:05:01:08 Time end: 00:10:10:24 Length: 00:05:09:16