Effect of enrichment on variation and results in the light/dark test (2003)

Augustsson, H., Van de Weerd, H. A., Kruitwagen, C. L. J. J. et al.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate if cage enrichment induces an effect on experimental mean values and on inter-individual variation in the light/dark paradigm using diazepam as the anxiolytic drug. The behaviour of 216 naive adult male mice of two different strains (BALB/c and C57BL/6) was studied. The animals were housed in groups of four in 'non-enriched', 'enriched' (nesting material) or 'super-enriched' (nest-box, nesting material, wooden gnawing stick and PVC tube) cages. .. Mice housed in enriched and super-enriched cages gained more weight than mice in non-enriched cages, although food intake was not affected. Generally, the strain of mouse had the greatest impact on both mean values and variation. .. None of the [statistical] methods showed any significant differences between standard and enriched conditions on variability in any of the parameters measured.