Does the Stress Inherent to Laboratory Life and Experimentation on Animals Adversely Affect Research Data?

Bailey, Jarrod

doi:10.1177/026119291704500605

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Along with the object recognition test 94 , it is among the most animal-friendly options for cognitive function assessment. Stress minimization during behavioural procedures is not only fundamental from an ethical point of view for animal welfare, but also for data reliability, as stress is a confounding variable that can put at risk the reproducibility of results 95 , 96 . Furthermore, the spontaneous alternation T-maze task does not require any sort of pre-training, making it possible to test animals through a single-day procedure, which can be useful in many experimental designs.…”

Section: Advantages and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apparatus design and behavioural testing protocol for the evaluation of spatial working memory in mice through the spontaneous alternation T-maze

d’Isa

Comı

Leocani

2021

Sci Rep

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Spatial working memory can be assessed in mice through the spontaneous alternation T-maze test. The T-maze is a T-shaped apparatus featuring a stem (start arm) and two lateral goal arms (left and right arms). The procedure is based on the natural tendency of rodents to prefer exploring a novel arm over a familiar one, which induces them to alternate the choice of the goal arm across repeated trials. During the task, in order to successfully alternate choices across trials, an animal has to remember which arm had been visited in the previous trial, which makes spontaneous alternation T-maze an optimal test for spatial working memory. As this test relies on a spontaneous behaviour and does not require rewards, punishments or pre-training, it represents a particularly useful tool for cognitive evaluation, both time-saving and animal-friendly. We describe here in detail the apparatus and the protocol, providing representative results on wild-type healthy mice.

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Section: Advantages and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apparatus design and behavioural testing protocol for the evaluation of spatial working memory in mice through the spontaneous alternation T-maze

d’Isa

Comı

Leocani

2021

Sci Rep

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“…Macaques must be transferred and maintained in the laboratory setting for applications in biomedical and toxicological research. In Japan, monkeys are allowed to be imported only from the USA, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of the Philippines, the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, the Republic of Suriname, the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, and the Kingdom of Cambodia Although animal care and handling procedures have markedly progressed, the immune system of animals can be spontaneously compromised due to background infection and experimental condition-induced stress, poor physical condition, or the intended or unintended mechanism of the test articles 6,7 . For example, simian retrovirus (SRV) and measles affect both humoral and cellular immune systems 8,9 , while simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) compromises cellular immunity [10][11][12] in infected macaques.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathologic characteristics of infectious diseases in macaque monkeys used in biomedical and toxicologic studies

Ohta

2023

J Toxicol Pathol

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Nonhuman primates (NHPs), which have many advantages in scientific research and are often the only relevant animals to use in assessing the safety profiles and biological or pharmacological effects of drug candidates, including biologics. In scientific or developmental experiments, the immune systems of animals can be spontaneously compromised possibly due to background infection, experimental procedure-associated stress, poor physical condition, or intended or unintended mechanisms of action of test articles. Under these circumstances, background, incidental, or opportunistic infections can seriously can significantly complicate the interpretation of research results and findings and consequently affect experimental conclusions. Pathologists and toxicologists must understand the clinical manifestations and pathologic features of infectious diseases and the effects of these diseases on animal physiology and experimental results in addition to the spectrum of infectious diseases in healthy NHP colonies. This review provides an overview of the clinical and pathologic characteristics of common viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infectious diseases in NHPs, especially macaque monkeys, as well as methods for definitive diagnosis of these diseases. Opportunistic infections that can occur in the laboratory setting have also been addressed in this review with examples of cases of infection disease manifestation that was observed or influenced during safety assessment studies or under experimental conditions.

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“…1,2 . This is particularly a problem among laboratory animals, where stress and anxiety in response to human contact (or the threat of human contact) negatively impacts animal welfare, increases the difficulty of handling animals that may attempt to bite or escape, and is a potential confounding factor in many scientific experiments 3,4 . As handling is an unavoidable and variable procedure in managing captive animals, this type of confounding factor is very difficult to control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the practicality of using non-aversive handling methods to reduce background stress and anxiety in laboratory mice

Gouveia

Hurst

2019

Sci Rep

106

101

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Handling can stimulate stress and anxiety in laboratory animals that negatively impacts welfare and introduces a confounding factor in many areas of research. Picking up mice by the tail is a major source of handling stress that results in strong aversion to the handler, while mice familiarised with being picked up in a tunnel or cupped on the open hand show low stress and anxiety, and actively seek interaction with their handlers. Here we investigate the duration and frequency of handling required for effective familiarisation with these non-aversive handling methods, and test whether this is sufficient to prevent aversion and anxiety when animals then experience immobilisation and a mild procedure (subcutaneous injection). Very brief handling (2 s) was sufficient to familiarise mice with tunnel handling, even when experienced only during cage cleaning. Brief but more frequent handling was needed for familiarisation with cup handling, while pick up by tail induced strong aversion even when handling was brief and infrequent. Experience of repeated immobilisation and subcutaneous injection did not reverse the positive effects of tunnel handling. Our findings demonstrate that replacing tail with tunnel handling during routine cage cleaning and procedures provides a major refinement with little if any cost for familiarisation.

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Does the Stress Inherent to Laboratory Life and Experimentation on Animals Adversely Affect Research Data?

Abstract: Stress and distress in laboratory animals is often inherent and unavoidable. The effect of these factors on the reliability and relevance of experimental data is not sufficiently appreciated. Greater awareness, debate and discussion of this issue are urgently required

Cited by 13 publications

References 16 publications

Apparatus design and behavioural testing protocol for the evaluation of spatial working memory in mice through the spontaneous alternation T-maze

Apparatus design and behavioural testing protocol for the evaluation of spatial working memory in mice through the spontaneous alternation T-maze

Pathologic characteristics of infectious diseases in macaque monkeys used in biomedical and toxicologic studies

Improving the practicality of using non-aversive handling methods to reduce background stress and anxiety in laboratory mice

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