Rodent

Decreased environmental complexity during development impairs habituation of reinforcer effectiveness of sensory stimuli

Previous research has shown that rats reared in simple/impoverished environments demonstrate greater repetitive responding for sensory reinforcers (e.g., light onset). Moreover, the brains of these rats are abnormally developed, compared to brains of rats reared in more complex/enriched environments. Repetitive...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Abnormal/Problematic Behavior, Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Wang, R., Hausknechta, K. A., Haj-Dahmane, S. et al. 2018. Decreased environmental complexity during development impairs habituation of reinforcer effectiveness of sensory stimuli. Behavioural Brain Research 337, 53-60.

Effect of a change in housing conditions on body weight, behavior and brain neurotransmitters in male C57BL/6J mice

The development of modern housing regimes such as individually ventilated cage (IVC) systems has become very popular and attractive in order to reduce spreading of pathogenic organisms and to lower the risk to develop a laboratory animal allergy for staff...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Housing, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Pasquarelli, N., Voehringer, P., Henke, J. et al. 2017. Effect of a change in housing conditions on body weight, behavior and brain neurotransmitters in male C57BL/6J mice. Behavioural Brain Research 333, 35-42.

Pavlovian influences on learning differ between rats and mice in a counterbalanced Go/NoGo judgement bias task

Judgement bias tests of animal affect and hence welfare assume that the animal's responses to ambiguous stimuli, which may herald positive or negative outcomes, are under instrumental control and reflect ‘optimism' or ‘pessimism' about what will happen. However, Pavlovian control...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Jones, S., Paul, E. S., Dayan, P. et al. 2017. Pavlovian influences on learning differ between rats and mice in a counterbalanced Go/NoGo judgement bias task. Behavioural Brain Research 331, 214-224.

Enriched environment alters the behavioral profile of tenascin-C deficient mice

Tenascin-C (TnC) is an extracellular matrix glycoprotein implicated in a variety of processes ranging from brain development to synaptic plasticity in the adult vertebrates. Although the role of the TnC gene in regulation of behavior has been investigated, it remained...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Stamenkovic, V., Milenkovic, I., Galjak, N. et al. 2017. Enriched environment alters the behavioral profile of tenascin-C deficient mice. Behavioural Brain Research 331, 241-253.

Effects of environmental enrichment on anxiety-like behavior, sociability, sensory gating, and spatial learning in male and female C57BL/6J mice

The influence of housing on cognition and emotional regulation in mice presents a problem for the study of genetic and environmental risk factors for neuropsychiatric disorders: standard laboratory housing may result in low levels of cognitive function or altered levels...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Hendershott, T. R., Cronin, M. E., Langella, S. et al. 2016. Effects of environmental enrichment on anxiety-like behavior, sociability, sensory gating, and spatial learning in male and female C57BL/6J mice. Behavioural Brain Research 314, 215-225.

Effects of exercise and enrichment on behaviour in CD-1 mice

A host of scholarly work has characterized the positive effects of exercise and environmental enrichment on behaviour and cognition in animal studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the uptake and longitudinal impact of exercise and enrichment on...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Aujnaraina, A. B., Luoa, O. D., Taylor, N. et al. 2018. Effects of exercise and enrichment on behaviour in CD-1 mice. Behavioural Brain Research 342, 43-50.

Anxiety-like behavior and neuropeptide receptor expression in male and female prairie voles: The effects of stress and social buffering

Strong social support can negate negative health outcomes – an effect defined as ‘social buffering'. In the present study, using the socially monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster), we examined whether the presence of a bonded partner during a stressful event...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Other Rodent, Rodent

Citation: Donovan, M., Liu, Y., Wang, Z. 2018. Anxiety-like behavior and neuropeptide receptor expression in male and female prairie voles: The effects of stress and social buffering. Behavioural Brain Research 342, 70-78.

Separating the effects of shelter from additional cage enhancements for group-housed BALB/cJ mice

Enrichment studies with rodents have demonstrated that cage enhancements can improve animal welfare and performance on common behavioral measures, but few studies have compared more than one type of enrichment or controlled for confounds, and some have revealed undesirable effects...

Year Published: 2011Topics: Environmental Enrichment, HousingAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Swetter, B. J., Karpiak, C. P., Cannon, J. T. 2011. Separating the effects of shelter from additional cage enhancements for group-housed BALB/cJ mice. Neuroscience Letters 495(3), 205-209.

Rat aversion to isoflurane versus carbon dioxide

Some experts suggest that sedation of laboratory rodents with isoflurane before euthanasia with carbon dioxide (CO2) is a humane alternative to euthanasia with CO2 alone, but little research has compared aversion with these agents. Albino rats were tested in a...

Year Published: 2013Topics: EuthanasiaAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Wong, D., Makowska, I. J., Weary, D. M. 2013. Rat aversion to isoflurane versus carbon dioxide. Biology Letters 9(1), 20121000.

Report of the 2015 RSPCA/UFAW rodent and rabbit welfare group meeting

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 21 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on rodent welfare issues and share experiences of the implementation of the...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Husbandry & Management, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rabbit, Rodent

Citation: Hawkins, P., Atkinson, J., Birt, R. et al. 2016. Report of the 2015 RSPCA/UFAW rodent and rabbit welfare group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(1), 9-22. [Meeting Report]