Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement

Impact of enrichment of metabolic cages with ball-shaped shelters in studies of protein metabolism in rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Housing in metabolic cages for quantitative collection of urine and feces is necessary for nitrogen (N) metabolism studies but may have negative consequences for rat welfare. We hypothesized that providing shelters in metabolic cages would affect the rats’ behavior and...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Lærke, H. N., Ternman, E. M., Stødkilde, L. et al. 2025. Impact of enrichment of metabolic cages with ball-shaped shelters in studies of protein metabolism in rats (Rattus norvegicus). Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 64(2), 301–309.

Impact of an implanted intra-abdominal telemetry transmitter on fecal excretion of corticosterone and IgA in adult male F344 and BN rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Telemetry is a widely used method for obtaining physiologic data from rats, but it is uncertain how distressing it is for the animals to live with an implanted transmitter for long periods. The present study aimed to assess this impact...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological MeasurementAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Kemppinen, N., Meller, A., Kalliokoski, O. et al. 2025. Impact of an implanted intra-abdominal telemetry transmitter on fecal excretion of corticosterone and IgA in adult male F344 and BN rats (Rattus norvegicus). Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 64(3), 495–499.

Infrared thermography for temperature measurement in adult female C57BL/6NCrl mice: A comparison with rectal probe and subcutaneous transponder

Body temperature is an easily measured clinical parameter that provides important information about an animal’s health and welfare. In the context of animal experiments, temperature monitoring provides relevant data needed to manage animal care and has been embraced as a...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological MeasurementAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Fiebig, K., Jourdan, T., Kock, M. et al. 2025. Infrared thermography for temperature measurement in adult female C57BL/6NCrl mice: A comparison with rectal probe and subcutaneous transponder. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 64(1), 120–131.

Contactless monitoring of respiratory rate variability in rats under anesthesia with a compact 24GHz microwave radar sensor (2025)

Objective The objective of this study was to develop and validate a noncontact monitoring system for respiratory rate variability in rats under anesthesia using a 24GHz microwave radar sensor. This study aimed to address the need for stress-free monitoring techniques...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Anesthesia & Sedation, Biological Sampling & Physiological MeasurementAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Sun, G., Kurosawa, M., Ninomiya, Y. et al. 2025. Contactless monitoring of respiratory rate variability in rats under anesthesia with a compact 24GHz microwave radar sensor. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 12.

Blood sampling in Göttingen minipigs—a case study of two standard methods and clicker training as a restraint-free alternative (2025)

Blood sampling often requires restraint that negatively affects animal welfare. This case study evaluated three methods for jugular vein blood sampling (V-bench, sling, and clicker training) with the overall aim of assessing the negative impact on animal welfare and providing...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Animal Training, Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, RestraintAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Schiøler, K., Jensen, M. L., Sørensen, D. B. 2025. Blood sampling in Göttingen minipigs—a case study of two standard methods and clicker training as a restraint-free alternative. Animals 15(3), 407.

Tracking ‘tails’: Refining motor activity monitoring in rats and mice (2025)

Motor activity monitoring is used in specialist regulatory toxicology studies to investigate test item related neurobehavioral effects. Introduction of a new video tracking software system which detects the centre point, tail base and nose tip of rodents to individually track...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Behavioral & Cognitive Testing, Biological Sampling & Physiological MeasurementAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Reading, R. 2025. Tracking “tails”: Refining motor activity monitoring in rats and mice. Animal Technology and Welfare 24(1), 53–56.

Hematological reference intervals for Danish crossbred Landrace Yorkshire Duroc (LYD) pigs used in biomedical research (2025)

The health and welfare of pigs used in biomedical research is essential to research quality and compliance with the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement). Hematological variables are objective markers to quantitatively determine health issues and evaluate physiological differences before and...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Præstegaard, K. F., Winther-Larsen, A., Kousholt, B. S. 2025. Hematological reference intervals for Danish crossbred Landrace Yorkshire Duroc (LYD) pigs used in biomedical research. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 67(1), 11.

A minimally invasive marine mammal sex determination method using epidermal tissue recovered from suction-cup tags (2025)

For many baleen whales, minimal sexual dimorphism means that sex cannot necessarily be reliably determined through observation alone. Suction cup tags deployed for behavioral studies of free-ranging whales sometimes retain exfoliated epidermal tissue from the tagged animal that can potentially...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological MeasurementAnimal Type: Marine Mammal

Citation: Novak, S. X., Linsky, J. M. J., Knapp, K. J. et al. 2025. A minimally invasive marine mammal sex determination method using epidermal tissue recovered from suction-cup tags. PLOS ONE 20(5), e0323658.

Analysis of the reliability of feather sections for corticosterone measurement in pekin ducks

The aim of this study was to identify the feather section, among the whole feather, rachis, and vane, with the highest reliability for corticosterone measurement in 10 Pekin ducks aged 42 days. In total, 60 samples (i.e., 20 per section)...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological MeasurementAnimal Type: Bird, Fowl

Citation: Lim, S.-J., Kim, C. H., Yang, K. Y. et al. 2025. Analysis of the reliability of feather sections for corticosterone measurement in pekin ducks. Animals 15(2), 138.

A positive-reinforcement training regimen for refined sample collection in laboratory pigs (2025)

Positive-reinforcement training of laboratory pigs can reduce the reliance on forced manual restraint and anaesthesia for sample collection, reducing stress and physiological disruption. Training regimens for laboratory pigs typically rely on specialised equipment for restraint, such as Panepinto slings, with...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Animal Training, Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, RestraintAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Layton, R., Beggs, D., Fisher, A. et al. 2025. A positive-reinforcement training regimen for refined sample collection in laboratory pigs. Animals 15(4), 471.