Rodent

Social isolation in rats: Effects on animal welfare and molecular markers for neuroplasticity

Early life stress compromises brain development and can contribute to the development of mental illnesses. A common animal model used to study different facets of psychiatric disorders is social isolation from early life on. In rats, this isolation can induce...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Begni, V., Sanson, A., Pfeiffer, N. et al. 2020. Social isolation in rats: Effects on animal welfare and molecular markers for neuroplasticity. PLOS ONE 15(10), e0240439.

Postweaning grouping as a strategy to reduce singly housed male mice

Rearing laboratory mice in groups is important since social isolation after weaning induces brain alterations, which entails behavioral abnormalities in adulthood. Age is an important factor when grouping males of different litters due to inter-male aggressiveness. The aim of this...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Grífols, R., Zamora, C., Ortega-Saez, I. et al. 2020. Postweaning grouping as a strategy to reduce singly housed male mice. Animals 10(11), 2135.

Prolonged isolation stress accelerates the onset of Alzheimer’s disease-related pathology in 5xFAD mice despite running wheels and environmental enrichment

Research has demonstrated that stress can exacerbate AD pathology in transgenic mouse models of AD. The purpose of the present studies was to extend this work by determining whether a social stressor, isolation stress, would increase the number of Aβ...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Peterman, J.L., White, J.D., Calcagno, A. et al. 2020. Prolonged isolation stress accelerates the onset of Alzheimer’s disease-related pathology in 5xFAD mice despite running wheels and environmental enrichment. Behavioural Brain Research 379, 112366.

A safe bet? Inter-laboratory variability in behaviour-based severity assessment

Evidence-based severity assessment is essential as a basis for ethical evaluation in animal experimentation to ensure animal welfare, legal compliance and scientific quality. To fulfil these tasks scientists, animal care and veterinary personnel need assessment tools that provide species-relevant measurements...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Jirkof, P., Abdelrahman, A., Bleich, A. et al. 2020. A safe bet? Inter-laboratory variability in behaviour-based severity assessment. Laboratory Animals 54(1), 73–82.

What is your tattoo ink telling you?

Tattooing traumatizes the skin, which can result in microbial infections with the severity ranging from minor to life-threating septicemia. Additionally, the metals in colored tattoo ink are known to cause dermal inflammation in some people. In the laboratory animal research...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Identification MethodAnimal Type: All/General, Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Young, T., Whiteside, T., Locklear, J. 2020. What is your tattoo ink telling you? Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(2) (March/April), 62-65.

Similar levels of emotional contagion in male and female rats

Emotional contagion, the ability to feel what other individuals feel without necessarily understanding the feeling or knowing its source, is thought to be an important element of social life. In humans, emotional contagion has been shown to be stronger in...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Han, Y., Sichterman, B., Maria, C. et al. 2020. Similar levels of emotional contagion in male and female rats. Scientific Reports 10(1), 2763.

Social enrichment by separated pair housing of male C57BL/6JRj mice

Laboratory male mice are often housed individually due to aggressive behavior or experimental requirements, though social isolation can cause welfare issues. As a strategy to refine housing of male mice, we introduce the separated pair housing system. A perforated transparent...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Hohlbaum, K., Frahm, S., Rex, A. et al. 2020. Social enrichment by separated pair housing of male C57BL/6JRj mice. Scientific Reports 10, 11165.

The smell of hunger: Norway rats provision social partners based on odour cues of need

When individuals exchange helpful acts reciprocally, increasing the benefit of the receiver can enhance its propensity to return a favour, as pay-offs are typically correlated in iterated interactions. Therefore, reciprocally cooperating animals should consider the relative benefit for the receiver...

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

Citation: Schneeberger, K., Röder, G., Taborsky, M. 2020. The smell of hunger: Norway rats provision social partners based on odour cues of need. PLOS Biology 18(3), e3000628.

Towards a fully automated surveillance of well-being status in laboratory mice using deep learning: Starting with facial expression analysis

Assessing the well-being of an animal is hindered by the limitations of efficient communication between humans and animals. Instead of direct communication, a variety of parameters are employed to evaluate the well-being of an animal. Especially in the field of...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Andresen, N., Wöllhaf, M., Hohlbaum, K. et al. 2020. Towards a fully automated surveillance of well-being status in laboratory mice using deep learning: Starting with facial expression analysis. PLOS ONE 15(4), e0228059.

Understanding rat emotional responses to CO2

The aim of this review is to summarize evidence regarding rat emotional experiences during carbon dioxide (CO2) exposure. The studies reviewed show that CO2 exposure is aversive to rats, and that rats respond to CO2 exposure with active and passive...

Year Published: 2020Topics: EuthanasiaAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Améndola, L., Weary, D. M. 2020. Understanding rat emotional responses to CO2. Translational Psychiatry 10, 253.