Water Shelf Life for Long-Duration Rodent Research Missions
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Rodent Research Project habitat is a highly-specialized rodent husbandry caging system that enables mice to be flown to the International Space Station for a variety of bioscience studies in the unique microgravity and radiation environment. The habitat accommodates an internal water supply box containing four water access points and two one liter flexible plastic sterile blood bags for storage. Two access points are provided on each side of the habitat, which accommodates five animals per side. Due to the nature of operations on the Space Station – including limited fluid handling – water cannot be changed out weekly as in ground-based vivariums. Water is added to the system a maximum of eighteen months prior to being provided to rodents. The dependable provision of high-quality drinking water is essential for both the welfare of rodents and the scientific integrity of the studies in which they are involved. The robust, multi-stage water preparation process involves the autoclave sterilization of deionized water, the addition of iodine to minimize biofilms, and filtration through a sterile filter to ensure removal of bacteria and other contaminants. The water is then loaded into the sterile blood bags as part of the automated delivery system. A water storage test determined that the shelf life of this water in the habitat could be increased up to four years from a previous eighteen months. This facilitates the ability to pre-position habitats on Station as well as demonstrates that the habitat’s water system can be utilized on future long-duration and deep space missions involving rodents.