Rat

Impact of enrichment of metabolic cages with ball-shaped shelters in studies of protein metabolism in rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Housing in metabolic cages for quantitative collection of urine and feces is necessary for nitrogen (N) metabolism studies but may have negative consequences for rat welfare. We hypothesized that providing shelters in metabolic cages would affect the rats’ behavior and...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Lærke, H. N., Ternman, E. M., Stødkilde, L. et al. 2025. Impact of enrichment of metabolic cages with ball-shaped shelters in studies of protein metabolism in rats (Rattus norvegicus). Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 64(2), 301–309.

Impact of an implanted intra-abdominal telemetry transmitter on fecal excretion of corticosterone and IgA in adult male F344 and BN rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Telemetry is a widely used method for obtaining physiologic data from rats, but it is uncertain how distressing it is for the animals to live with an implanted transmitter for long periods. The present study aimed to assess this impact...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological MeasurementAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Kemppinen, N., Meller, A., Kalliokoski, O. et al. 2025. Impact of an implanted intra-abdominal telemetry transmitter on fecal excretion of corticosterone and IgA in adult male F344 and BN rats (Rattus norvegicus). Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 64(3), 495–499.

Ge, Y., Alamaw, E. D., Ray, R. R. et al. 2025. Analgesic efficacy of a long-acting transdermal buprenorphine in rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Zorbium is the first long-acting transdermal buprenorphine (LAT-bup) approved by the FDA for relieving postoperative pain in cats for 72 h. This study aimed to investigate LAT-bup’s efficacy for attenuating postoperative mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity in a rat incisional pain...

Year Published: 2025Topics: AnalgesiaAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Ge, Y., Alamaw, E. D., Ray, R. R. et al. 2025. Analgesic efficacy of a long-acting transdermal buprenorphine in rats (Rattus norvegicus). Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 64(3), 406–413.

Light cycle phase effects on behavioral responses to stress exposure in rats

Animal models enable investigation of the impact of stress on emotional-behavioral performance to facilitate understanding of posttraumatic stress symptoms experienced in humans. Refinement of animal stress models could lead to a reduction in the number of subjects needed to detect...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Brown, C. E., Borrell, A. C., DeMar, J. C. et al. 2025. Light cycle phase effects on behavioral responses to stress exposure in rats. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 64(1), 64–75.

The effects of subcutaneous ketamine on postlaparotomy analgesia and behavior in female Sprague–Dawley rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Multimodal analgesia provides superior pain control compared with single-agent analgesic approaches. However, certain analgesic drug classes such as NSAIDs and opioids may be contraindicated in some studies due to their mechanisms of action, highlighting the need for alternative analgesic options....

Year Published: 2025Topics: AnalgesiaAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Alionhart, R. E., Carlson, M. M., White, A. R. et al. 2025. The effects of subcutaneous ketamine on postlaparotomy analgesia and behavior in female Sprague–Dawley rats (Rattus norvegicus). Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 64(3), 468–479.

Contactless monitoring of respiratory rate variability in rats under anesthesia with a compact 24GHz microwave radar sensor (2025)

Objective The objective of this study was to develop and validate a noncontact monitoring system for respiratory rate variability in rats under anesthesia using a 24GHz microwave radar sensor. This study aimed to address the need for stress-free monitoring techniques...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Anesthesia & Sedation, Biological Sampling & Physiological MeasurementAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Sun, G., Kurosawa, M., Ninomiya, Y. et al. 2025. Contactless monitoring of respiratory rate variability in rats under anesthesia with a compact 24GHz microwave radar sensor. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 12.

Tracking ‘tails’: Refining motor activity monitoring in rats and mice (2025)

Motor activity monitoring is used in specialist regulatory toxicology studies to investigate test item related neurobehavioral effects. Introduction of a new video tracking software system which detects the centre point, tail base and nose tip of rodents to individually track...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Behavioral & Cognitive Testing, Biological Sampling & Physiological MeasurementAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Reading, R. 2025. Tracking “tails”: Refining motor activity monitoring in rats and mice. Animal Technology and Welfare 24(1), 53–56.

The development and use of a cage-topper to enhance rat welfare (2025)

The welfare of rats used in scientific research is an important concern. Recent studies show that larger, more complex housing improves rat welfare compared to standard conventional cages. However there are typically both practical and financial constraints to implementing this....

Year Published: 2025Topics: Environmental Enrichment, HousingAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Neville, V., Phelon, L., Handley, C. et al. 2025. The development and use of a cage-topper to enhance rat welfare. Animal Technology and Welfare 24(1), 35–38.

Juvenile male rats form preferences based on strain when playing in groups but not in pairs (2025)

Like many young mammals, juvenile rats engage in rough-and-tumble play. Play occurs naturally both in wild and laboratory rats, making it a suitable, ethologically relevant behavior to investigate. In the laboratory, rats are typically housed and tested in dyads, despite...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Natural BehaviorAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Ham, J. R., Jaiswal, D., Waner-Mariquito, R. et al. 2025. Juvenile male rats form preferences based on strain when playing in groups but not in pairs. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 19.

Repeated restraint stress produces acute and chronic changes in hemodynamic parameters in rats

Noninvasive hemodynamic measurements in rats require placing animals in restrainers. To minimize restraint stress-induced artifacts several habituation protocols have been proposed, however, the results are inconclusive. Here, we evaluated if a four-week habituation is superior to a shorter habituation, or...

Year Published: 2016Topics: RestraintAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Sikora, M., Konopelski, P., Pham, K. et al. 2016. Repeated restraint stress produces acute and chronic changes in hemodynamic parameters in rats. Stress 19(6), 621-629.