Rat

Using animal preference to develop enriched caging for rats

On average rats preferred the 'vertical cage'.

Year Published: 2003Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Nelson, K., Patterson-Kane, E. G., Love, J. 2003. Using animal preference to develop enriched caging for rats. Animal Technology and Welfare 2, 85-88.

The impact of cage ventilation on rats housed in IVC systems

Rats prefer cages with air changes below 80 times per hour.

Year Published: 2003Topics: HousingAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Krohn, T. C., Kornerup-Hansen, A., Dragsted, N. 2003. The impact of cage ventilation on rats housed in IVC systems. Laboratory Animals 37, 85-93.

Telemetry as a method for measuring the impact of housing conditions on rats’ welfare

The study revealed significant differences in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature between rats housed in the tree conditions, indicating that both grid floors and plastic floors are more stressful for the animals than bedding. The...

Year Published: 2003Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Krohn, T. C., Hansen, A. K., Dragsted, N. 2003. Telemetry as a method for measuring the impact of housing conditions on rats' welfare. Animal Welfare 12, 53-62.

Foraging as environmental enrichment for laboratory rats: A theoretical review

Foraging opportunities are a form of environmental enrichment with great potential to improve the welfare of animals in laboratories. Though commonly used with zoo animals, little evidence exists of their use in laboratories. Technicians or other laboratory staff are unlikely...

Year Published: 2003Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Johnson, S. R., Patterson-Kane, E. G. 2003. Foraging as environmental enrichment for laboratory rats: A theoretical review. Animal Technology and Welfare 2, 13-22.

Environmental influence on recovery after brain lesions – experimental andclinical data

Experimental studies on focal cerebral infarcts in the rat have demonstrated that postischemic environmental enrichment significantly improves functional outcome, increases dendrite branching and number of dendritic spines in the contralateral cortex, influences expression of many genes and modifies lesion-induced stem...

Year Published: 2003Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Johansson, B. B. 2003. Environmental influence on recovery after brain lesions - experimental andclinical data. Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 41(Supplement), 11-16.

Fecal corticosterone: A noninvasive method of stress assessment in rats

Repeated mild restraint with bare hands or confinement in a plexiglas tube also increased fecal coritcosterone levels (p

Year Published: 2003Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Guhad, F. A., Nevalainen, T., Lang, C. M. 2003. Fecal corticosterone: A noninvasive method of stress assessment in rats. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 93-94 (Abstract).

Gender-specific effects of social housing in rats after chronic mild stress exposure

These results show that social housing can enhance coping with stress in female rats, whereas in male rats group housing did not have a positive influence on stress-sensitivity.

Year Published: 2003Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Westenbroek, C., Ter Horst, G. J., Roos, M. H. et al. 2003. Gender-specific effects of social housing in rats after chronic mild stress exposure. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry 27(1), 21-30.

Access to enriched housing is rewarding to rats as reflected by their anticipatory behaviour

The strong increase in activity in anticipation of both an enriched cage and sexual contact and the similar response in terms of the behavioural elements analysed indicate that the appraisal of access to an enriched cage shares a common denominator...

Year Published: 2003Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: van der Harst, J. E., Fermont, P. C. J., Bilstra, A. E. et al. 2003. Access to enriched housing is rewarding to rats as reflected by their anticipatory behaviour. Animal Behaviour 66, 493-504 .

The trial of solid floor inserts in grid floored cages for the use in 28 and 90 day repeated dose studies in the rat

No preference for solid floors over grid floors was observed. Our intention, therefore, is to retain the grid floor caging systems currently used with the inclusion of cardobard 'fun tunnels' and wood chew blocks.

Year Published: 2003Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Trussell, M. A., Blackwell, M. P. 2003. The trial of solid floor inserts in grid floored cages for the use in 28 and 90 day repeated dose studies in the rat. Animal Technology and Welfare 2, 135-137.

Stress-like responses to common procedures in individually and group-housed female rats

Mean resting HR values in the mornings prior to human contact were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in rats housed four per cage than animals housed alone or with one cage mate, whereas MAP during this period was lowest in...

Year Published: 2003Topics: Husbandry & Management, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Sharp, J. L., Zammit, T., Azar, T. A. et al. 2003. Stress-like responses to common procedures in individually and group-housed female rats. Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science 42(1), 9-18.