Rat

Types and functions of ultrasonic vocalizations in laboratory rats and mice

Understanding the types and functions of ultrasonic vocalizations emitted by laboratory rodents may enable researchers and animal care personnel to use vocalizations as an indicator of an animal's behavior and affect.

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Portfors, C. V. 2007. Types and functions of ultrasonic vocalizations in laboratory rats and mice. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science] 46(1).

Neuroevolutionary sources of laughter and social joy: modeling primal human laughter in laboratory rats

Rats make abundant 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) when they play and exhibit other positive social interactions. This response can be dramatically increased by tickling animals, especially when directed toward bodily areas toward which animals direct their own play solicitations...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Panksepp, J. 2007 . Neuroevolutionary sources of laughter and social joy: modeling primal human laughter in laboratory rats. Behavioural Brain Research 182, 231-244.

What is it like to be a rat? Rat sensory perception and its implications for experimental design and rat welfare

This review of rat sensory perception spans eight decades of work conducted across diverse research fields. It covers rat vision, audition, olfaction, gustation, and somatosensation, and describes how rat perception differs from and coincides with ours. As Nagel's seminal work...

Year Published: 2008Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Burn, C. C. 2008. What is it like to be a rat? Rat sensory perception and its implications for experimental design and rat welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 112(1-2), 1-32.

Effects of cage-cleaning frequency on laboratory rat reproduction, cannibalism, and welfare

Regular cage-cleaning is important for health, but for breeding rats it disrupts the nest and removes olfactory signals important for parental care. To investigate how different cage-cleaning frequencies affect breeding rats health and welfare, we monitored reproductive output, pup mortality,...

Year Published: 2008Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Burn, C. C., Mason, G. J. 2008. Effects of cage-cleaning frequency on laboratory rat reproduction, cannibalism, and welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 114, 235-247.

Effects of housing density on Long Evans and Fischer 344 rats

Results suggest that rats of these strains can be raised at the higher densities tested until any age and regrouped with unfamiliar cagemates without compromising the rats' welfare or subsequent experimental data.

Year Published: 2008Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Bean, K., Nemelka, K., Canchola, P. et al. 2008. Effects of housing density on Long Evans and Fischer 344 rats. Lab Animal 37(9), 421.

Social and Physical Environmental Enrichment Differentially Affect Growth and Activity of Preadolescent and Adolescent Male Rats

Environmental enrichment for laboratory animals is a widely accepted practice for many species, but few studies address the periods of preadolescence and adolescence. Provision of igloos, tunnels, nesting materials, and social or communal housing are commonly used enrichment strategies in...

Year Published: 2008Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Zaias, J., Queeney, T. J., Kelley, J. B. et al. 2008. Social and Physical Environmental Enrichment Differentially Affect Growth and Activity of Preadolescent and Adolescent Male Rats. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science] 47(2).

Enforced restraint of rodents: A discussion by the Refinement & Enrichment Forum

The question was asked: "Rodents are often restrained for data collection procedures, such as blood collection and injection, by coaxing them into tubes, for example syringe cylinders or perspex tubes. What can be done to buffer the stress response of...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Animal Training, RestraintAnimal Type: Guinea Pig, Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Barley, J., Mikkelsen, L. F., Francis, R. et al. 2007. Enforced restraint of rodents: A discussion by the Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Animal Technology and Welfare 6(1), 11-13.

Quality of life and the rodent laboratory

Preference studies show that lab mice and rats value opportunities to take cover, build nests, explore, forage, and gain social contact, behavioural needs that are by and large thwarted by standard laboratory housing systems. Eighty additional studies were reviewed to...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Balcombe, J. P. 2007. Quality of life and the rodent laboratory. Animal Welfare 16 Supplement(Poster abstract), 166.

Effect of noise on microvascular integrity in laboratory rats

Housing rats in an environment with high personnel activity increases microvascular leakiness to albumin in the mesenteric microcirculation and causes mast cell degranulation. ...All groups exposed to excess noise had significantly more leaks per venule length and greater leak area...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Baldwin, A. L., Bell, I. R. 2007. Effect of noise on microvascular integrity in laboratory rats. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science] 46(1), 58-65.

Can sleep behaviour be used as an indicator of stress in group-housed rats (Rattus norvegicus)?

We assessed the value of sleep behaviour as a novel measure of stress in group-housed animals. We observed, non-invasively, sleep behaviour in 144 group-housed rats, and related it to other physiological and physical indicators of stress and welfare. Sleep frequency...

Year Published: 2007Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Abou-Ismail, U. A., Burman, O. H. P., Nicol, C. J. et al. 2007. Can sleep behaviour be used as an indicator of stress in group-housed rats (Rattus norvegicus)? Animal Welfare 16(2), 185-188.