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SAI General Principles
An infusion system can be as simple as a needle and syringe or as complex as a catheter, port reservoir, Huber needle, jacket, tether, swivel, swivel holder, extension lines and pump. Just as the proper sized needle and appropriate volume syringe are necessary to achieve a simple IV injection, more complex systems also require the selection of components that best suit the infusion. Both complex and simple systems will function perfectly as quality infusion systems, but optimally, only under the right circumstances.
When a researcher calls asking about infusion systems, trying to determine which would be most suitable for their applications, they must first provide answers to a number of questions relating to their unique requirements. The answers to these questions will dictate what components can be used in the system to achieve their research objectives. In this section we will take you through these questions in detail, and explain how the answers affect the target system. By asking yourself these questions, finding the answers and understanding how they will affect your choices, you will be able to design your own systems with the components in Section 3.
Approaching infusion from a preclinical drug development standpoint, these important questions can be classified under two general categories; animal driven or test compound driven. There are a number of questions which do not fall under these categories that are also very important to answer during the planning stages of a study or project. These questions deal more with the reality of your circumstances and the compromises you may face rather than what would dictate the optimal system. To see the questions please click here. They may have a significant impact on your research.
The animal driven questions are fewer and easier to answer. Standard research species, as you might expect, are used in greater numbers although the range of species is extremely wide. Since a test compound can be virtually anything, these questions are greater in number and the answers are usually not as readily available. As you will read, many of the questions and answers are intertwined so topics may reappear under different headings. It is not uncommon that answers to these questions are unknown, by anyone, until days before the study is scheduled to begin. Unfortunately, sometimes these questions are not asked until after the study has begun or (even worse) completed. Needless to say, this jeopardizes not only the validity of the data but can lead to a senseless waste of animals.
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