Publikationsdatenbank

Effects of long-term housing in a semi naturalistic environment on female C57Bl/6J mice and advancements of the applied housing system (2023)

Art

Poster

Autoren

Mieske, Paul

Diederich, Kai

Lewejohann, Lars (WE 11)

Kongress

Joint meeting of the BfR and the Ethological Society

Berlin, 22. – 24.02.2023

Quelle

Joint meeting of the BfR and the Ethological Society – Abstracts — Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung ; Ethological Society (Hrsg.)

Berlin, 2023 — S. 31

Sprache

Englisch

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://www.bfr-akademie.de/media/wysiwyg/2023/EthoGes2023/Abstractband.pdf

Kontakt

Institut für Tierschutz, Tierverhalten und Versuchstierkunde

Königsweg 67
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 61146
tierschutz@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

Environmental enrichment (EE) is used to minimize negative effects of impoverished, monotonous housing conditions that can be experienced in standard laboratory caging. The environment of laboratory animals can be enriched with objects and a changing supply of nesting and bedding materials to encourage natural behaviors. A major challenge in the use of EE is ensuring standardization and comparability between laboratory studies. There is concern that the emergence of individuality and increasing variability of measurement data may influence the outcome of studies.
To evaluate influences of EE on behavioral and physiological parameters, different housing conditions were provided for female C57Bl/6J mice. As an alternative to standard sized cages with or without EE a group of 20 mice was housed in a large semi naturalistic environment (SNE). The mice were living in the respective housing conditions for a long-term housing period of XX weeks and were analyzed with regard to physiological and musculoskeletal properties.
Activity data from animals in the SNE revealed distinct patterns of roaming behavior which stabilized over time indicating the emergence of individual differences. However, this individuality in movement behavior did not correlate with other behavioral or physiological parameters.
Notably, measured values of the resting metabolic rate, grip strength and bone density showed no increase in variance in comparison to animals in standard caging. In comparison to standard cage housing SNE animals were longer and heavier. Bone properties of SNE animals appeared to be improved and age-related increased bone resorption was less pronounced.
Based on the advantages of the SNE, a further development of the housing system is presented that is also intended to optimize everyday handling in laboratory experiments.