Rodent

Just hanging out: Elevating rat enrichment in small spaces

This article describes how an Animal Care Technician at Mayo Clinic Rochester campus designed and created a novel enrichment item for rats: a ‘hammock’ made of PVC tunnels hung onto the lid of standard laboratory rat cages.

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Brekke, J., Scholz, J. 2020. Just hanging out: Elevating rat enrichment in small spaces. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(3) (May/June), 40-42.

Long-term effect of environmental enrichment on reproductive performance of Swiss Webster mice and their female offspring

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an environmental enrichment (EE) plan on the reproductive performance of Swiss Webster mice and their female offspring used as recipients for embryo transfer. A total of 54 breeder mice...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Meikle, M. N., Arévalo, A. P., Schlapp, G. et al. 2020. Long-term effect of environmental enrichment on reproductive performance of Swiss Webster mice and their female offspring. Animals 10(8), 1438.

Gentle stroking stimuli induce affiliative responsiveness to humans in male rats

Gentle tactile stimuli have been shown to play an important role in the establishment and maintenance of affiliative social interactions. Oxytocin has also been shown to have similar actions. We investigated the effects of gentle stroking on affiliative relationships between...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Okabe, S., Takayanagi, Y., Yoshida, M. et al. 2020. Gentle stroking stimuli induce affiliative responsiveness to humans in male rats. Scientific Reports 10, 9135.

Handling and training of mice and rats results in calmer animals during experimental procedures

This article describes the handling and training protocols for mice and rats in preparation for their use in toxicology studies at the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE).

Year Published: 2020Topics: Animal TrainingAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Bengtsson, C., Eriksson, M. 2020. Handling and training of mice and rats results in calmer animals during experimental procedures. AWI Quarterly 69(2) Summer, 6-8.

High laboratory mouse pre-weaning mortality associated with litter overlap, advanced dam age, small and large litters

High and variable pre-weaning mortality is a persistent problem in laboratory mouse breeding. Assuming a modest 15% mortality rate across mouse strains, means that approximately 1 million more pups are produced yearly in the EU to compensate for those which...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Husbandry & Management, Rearing & WeaningAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Morello, G. M., Hultgren, J., Capas-Peneda, S. et al. 2020. High laboratory mouse pre-weaning mortality associated with litter overlap, advanced dam age, small and large litters. PLOS ONE 15(8): e0236290.

Housing behaviour of the naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) under laboratory conditions

The naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is a rodent that has gained importance as a biomedical research model for various conditions including hypoxic brain injury, cancer and nociception. It is captured from the wild and housed under laboratory conditions during...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Housing, Natural BehaviorAnimal Type: Mole Rat, Rodent

Citation: Mwobobia, R., Abelson, K., Kanui, T. 2020. Housing behaviour of the naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) under laboratory conditions. Scandinavian Journal of Laboratory Animal Science 46(1), 16-24.

Novel bleeding techniques in hamsters

Hamsters have historically been used in our pharmacokinetic (PK) studies using the retro-orbital (RO) bleeding technique to collect blood samples. If performed incorrectly, this technique has the potential for animal welfare complications not usually seen with other phlebotomy methods. Our...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological MeasurementAnimal Type: Hamster, Rodent

Citation: Filliettaz, C., Maxwell, L., Dragon, M. et al. 2020. Novel bleeding techniques in hamsters. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(1) (January/February), 44-46.

Oestrus checking – increasing productivity and embracing the 3R’s

Much like the menstrual cycle in humans, mice also have a cycle where the eggs ripen, ovulation takes place, the females come into heat and are receptive to mate with the male; this occurs over the space of 4-5 days...

Year Published: 2020Topics: ReproductionAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Hoskins, S., Brown, J. 2020. Oestrus checking – increasing productivity and embracing the 3R’s. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(2), 159-161.

Optimising streptozotocin dosing to minimise renal toxicity and impairment of stomach emptying in male 129/Sv mice

The streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mouse model has been extensively used as a model for diabetes and diabetic nephropathy, but it is still influenced by many off-target toxic effects and large variation in diabetes induction. Therefore, the aim of this study...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Disease/Experimental ModelAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Nørgaard, S. A., Søndergaard, H., Sørensen, D. B. et al. 2020. Optimising streptozotocin dosing to minimise renal toxicity and impairment of stomach emptying in male 129/Sv mice. Laboratory Animals 54(4), 341–352.

Performance of severity parameters to detect chemotherapy-induced pain and distress in mice

According to European Union directive 2010/63/EU a severity classification of experimental procedures performed on laboratory animals is mandatory. This includes a prospective evaluation of all interventions performed within the experiment, as well as an assessment of the actual burden of...

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

Citation: Rix, A., Drude, N., Mrugalla, A. et al. 2020. Performance of severity parameters to detect chemotherapy-induced pain and distress in mice. Laboratory Animals 54(5), 452-460.