Rodent

Delaying the onset of Huntington’s in mice

Huntington's disease is an inherited (autosomal dominant) disorder in which there is progressive neurodegeneration, affecting the corpus striatum and cerebral cortex of the brain, and for which there is no known cure. Transgenic mice have been created that develop a...

Year Published: 2000Animal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Van Dellen, A., Blakemore, C., Deacon, R. et al. 2000. Delaying the onset of Huntington?s in mice. Nature 404, 721-722.

Brain oxytocin inhibits the (re)activity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis in male rats: involvement of hypothalamic and limbic brain regions

Increase in oxytocin relases from the hypothalamus inhibits HPA axis activation.

Year Published: 2000Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Neumann, I. D., Kromer, S. A., Toschi, N. et al. 2000 . Brain oxytocin inhibits the (re)activity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis in male rats: involvement of hypothalamic and limbic brain regions. Regulatory Peptides 96, 31-38.

Rat housing into the Millennium

The floor pen offers many advantages compared to the standard holding cage, the most evident being the natural or free behavior which the animals are allowed to exhibit. Observations included a marked increase in activity, inquisitiveness of the surroundings and...

Year Published: 2000Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Ballard, T. 2000. Rat housing into the Millennium. Animal Technology 51, 119-123.

The use of cage enrichment to reduce male mouse aggression

Aggression was significantly reduced by the addition of novel enrichment [cardboard box, softwood block, cardboard tube]. This reduction was expected as the provision of environmental enrichment for naive animals would decrease the familiarity of the cage and, therefore, lead to...

Year Published: 2000Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Ambrose, N., Morton, D. B. 2000. The use of cage enrichment to reduce male mouse aggression. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 3, 117-125.

Open-field behavior of house mice selectively bred for high voluntary wheel-running

Open-field behavioral assays are commonly used to test both locomotor activity and emotionality in rodents. We performed open-field tests on house mice (Mus domesticus) from four replicate lines genetically selected for high voluntary wheel-running for 22 generations and from four...

Year Published: 2001Animal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Bronikowski, A. M., Carter, P. A., Swallow, J. G. et al. 2001. Open-field behavior of house mice selectively bred for high voluntary wheel-running. Behavior Genetics 31, 309-316.

Commercial cotton nesting material as a predisposing factor for conjunctivitis in athymic nude mice

A colony of Hsd:Athymic Nude-nu mice was found to have an increased prevalence of conjunctivitis. It was theorized, because Athymic Nude mice lack the normal fur, i.e., guard hairs, and eye lashes, the fibers from nestlets can easily become embedded...

Year Published: 2001Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Bazille, P. G., Walden, S. D., Koniar, B. L. et al. 2001. Commercial cotton nesting material as a predisposing factor for conjunctivitis in athymic nude mice. Lab Animal 30(5), 40-42.

Behavioral and cardiovascular responses of male Sprague-Dawley rats to common husbandry and experimental procedures: Effect of housing density

Responses of rats housed alone or with another rat were assessed using radio-telemetry. We conclude that some common husbandry and experimental procedures [moving rats to a clean cage, s.c. injection, tail vein injection, exposure to urine and feces from stressed...

Year Published: 2001Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Zammit, T. G., Duke, J. L., Lawson, D. M. 2001. Behavioral and cardiovascular responses of male Sprague-Dawley rats to common husbandry and experimental procedures: Effect of housing density. Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science 40(4), 67 (Abstract).

Preference of mice, Mus musculus, for different types of running wheel

Strong preference was shown for running wheels with plastic mesh flooring, rather than the standard metal rods only. The preference for the plastic mesh was present in mice of different ages from different sources, and in both choice and single...

Year Published: 2000Animal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Banjanin, S., Mrosovsky, N. 2000. Preference of mice, Mus musculus, for different types of running wheel. Laboratory Animals 34, 313-318.

Environmental enrichment enhances recovery of function but exacerbates ischemic cell death

These data demonstrate that early, intensive intervention after ischemia can improve functional outcome but that this is accompanied by increased brain damage. Careful consideration needs to be given to the timing of rehabilitation after stroke and related types of brain...

Year Published: 2001Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Gerbil, Rodent

Citation: Farrell, R., Evans, S., Corbett, D. 2001. Environmental enrichment enhances recovery of function but exacerbates ischemic cell death. Neuroscience 107(Farrell et al. (2001)), 585-592.

Behavioral and CV responses of female Sprague-Dawley rats to common husbandry and experimental procedures: Lack of effect of the estrous cycle

We conclude that some common husbandry and experimental procedures can induce stress-like physiological changes in female rats but, surprisingly, these changes are affected only slightly or not at all by the stage of the estrous cycle.

Year Published: 2001Animal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Duke, J. L., Zammit, T. G., Lawson, D. M. 2001. Behavioral and CV responses of female Sprague-Dawley rats to common husbandry and experimental procedures: Lack of effect of the estrous cycle. Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science 40(4), 92 (Abstract).