Mouse

A review of strain and sex differences in response to pain and analgesia in mice

Pain and its alleviation are currently a highly studied issue in human health. Research on pain and response to analgesia has evolved to include the effects of genetics, heritability, and sex as important components in both humans and animals. The...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Analgesia, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Smith J. C. 2019. A review of strain and sex differences in response to pain and analgesia in mice. Comparative Medicine 69(6), 490–500.

Postweaning grouping as a strategy to reduce singly housed male mice

Rearing laboratory mice in groups is important since social isolation after weaning induces brain alterations, which entails behavioral abnormalities in adulthood. Age is an important factor when grouping males of different litters due to inter-male aggressiveness. The aim of this...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Grífols, R., Zamora, C., Ortega-Saez, I. et al. 2020. Postweaning grouping as a strategy to reduce singly housed male mice. Animals 10(11), 2135.

Prolonged isolation stress accelerates the onset of Alzheimer’s disease-related pathology in 5xFAD mice despite running wheels and environmental enrichment

Research has demonstrated that stress can exacerbate AD pathology in transgenic mouse models of AD. The purpose of the present studies was to extend this work by determining whether a social stressor, isolation stress, would increase the number of Aβ...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Peterman, J.L., White, J.D., Calcagno, A. et al. 2020. Prolonged isolation stress accelerates the onset of Alzheimer’s disease-related pathology in 5xFAD mice despite running wheels and environmental enrichment. Behavioural Brain Research 379, 112366.

What is your tattoo ink telling you?

Tattooing traumatizes the skin, which can result in microbial infections with the severity ranging from minor to life-threating septicemia. Additionally, the metals in colored tattoo ink are known to cause dermal inflammation in some people. In the laboratory animal research...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Identification MethodAnimal Type: All/General, Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Young, T., Whiteside, T., Locklear, J. 2020. What is your tattoo ink telling you? Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(2) (March/April), 62-65.

Social enrichment by separated pair housing of male C57BL/6JRj mice

Laboratory male mice are often housed individually due to aggressive behavior or experimental requirements, though social isolation can cause welfare issues. As a strategy to refine housing of male mice, we introduce the separated pair housing system. A perforated transparent...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Hohlbaum, K., Frahm, S., Rex, A. et al. 2020. Social enrichment by separated pair housing of male C57BL/6JRj mice. Scientific Reports 10, 11165.

A safe bet? Inter-laboratory variability in behaviour-based severity assessment

Evidence-based severity assessment is essential as a basis for ethical evaluation in animal experimentation to ensure animal welfare, legal compliance and scientific quality. To fulfil these tasks scientists, animal care and veterinary personnel need assessment tools that provide species-relevant measurements...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Jirkof, P., Abdelrahman, A., Bleich, A. et al. 2020. A safe bet? Inter-laboratory variability in behaviour-based severity assessment. Laboratory Animals 54(1), 73–82.

Towards a fully automated surveillance of well-being status in laboratory mice using deep learning: Starting with facial expression analysis

Assessing the well-being of an animal is hindered by the limitations of efficient communication between humans and animals. Instead of direct communication, a variety of parameters are employed to evaluate the well-being of an animal. Especially in the field of...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Andresen, N., Wöllhaf, M., Hohlbaum, K. et al. 2020. Towards a fully automated surveillance of well-being status in laboratory mice using deep learning: Starting with facial expression analysis. PLOS ONE 15(4), e0228059.

Welfare impact of carbon dioxide euthanasia on laboratory mice and rats: A systematic review

Background: There has been increased concern about the suitability of CO2 as a method for euthanasia of laboratory mice and rats, including the potential discomfort, pain or distress that animals may experience prior to loss of consciousness; time to loss...

Year Published: 2020Topics: EuthanasiaAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Turner, P. V., Hickman, D. L., van Luijk, J. et al. 2020. Welfare impact of carbon dioxide euthanasia on laboratory mice and rats: A systematic review. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 411.

What 3Rs idea have you developed?

The author describes how she used an automated system to reduce how frequently mouse cage bedding is changed without compromising cleanliness. This idea came from the desire to reduce animal stress to a minimum.

Year Published: 2020Topics: Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Filby, E. 2020. What 3Rs idea have you developed? Animal Technology and Welfare 19(1), 49-51.

Wheel running behaviour in group-housed female mice indicates disturbed wellbeing due to DSS colitis

Voluntary wheel running (VWR) behaviour is a sensitive indicator of disturbed wellbeing and used for the assessment of individual experimental severity levels in laboratory mice. However, monitoring individual VWR performance usually requires single housing, which itself might have a negative...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Disease/Experimental Model, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Weegh, N., Füner, J., Janke, O. et al. 2020. Wheel running behaviour in group-housed female mice indicates disturbed wellbeing due to DSS colitis. Laboratory Animals 54(1), 63–72.