Reduction of fever by housing in small cages (1997)

Kuhnen, G.

Abstract

At the beginning of the experiments individual hamsters housed in small standard cages had higher temperatures compared with hamsters housed in larger cages. This was taken as an indication of a higher stress level in the small caging environment. Hamsters housed in large, barren cages had higher temperatures than hamsters housed in large, environmentally enriched [with running wheel, climbing trestle, tube, etc.] cages, suggesting a higher stress level in the large but barren cage environment. Housing [individual hamsters] in small cages diminished the fever response [to injection of lipopolysaccharide from Salmonella typhosa] significantly by approximately 20%, and is likely to be due to a higher stress level. The findings demonstrate that the results of physiological experiments are not only influenced by the experimental design, but also by pre-experimental housing conditions.