Non-aversive mouse handling techniques: A survey on the acceptance and concerns of the animal facility and scientific staff

Hohlbaum, Katharina; Humpenöder, Melanie; Nagel-Riedasch, Stefan; Ullmann, Kristina; Thöne-Reineke, Christa

doi:10.14573/altex.2005121

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Mice were looked after daily and during weekly cage cleaning a more detailed visual health check was performed. For avoidance of stressful handling and implementing refinement methods, all animals were trained to tunnel handling [ 33 ] daily during an habituation phase of 3 weeks (for a detailed protocol see: [ 34 ]). Tunnel handling was used whenever the handling of the mice was needed during weekly cage cleaning and experiments.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of different types of enrichment - their usage and effect on home cage behavior in female mice

et al. 2021

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Numerous studies ascertained positive effects of enriched environments on the well-being of laboratory animals including behavioral, physiological and neurochemical parameters. Conversely, such conclusions imply impaired animal welfare and health in barren husbandry conditions. Moreover, inappropriate housing of laboratory animals may deteriorate the quality of scientific data. Recommendations for housing laboratory animals stipulate that cages should be enriched to mitigate adverse effects of barren housing. In this context, it is not only unclear what exactly is meant by enrichment, but also how the animals themselves interact with the various items on offer. Focal animal observation of female C57BL/6J mice either housed in conventional (CON) or enriched (ENR) conditions served to analyze the impact of enriching housing on welfare related behavior patterns including stereotypical, maintenance, active social, and inactive behaviors. CON conditions resembled current usual housing of laboratory mice, whereas ENR mice received varying enrichment items including foraging, housing and structural elements, and a running disc. Active and inactive use of these elements was quantitatively assessed. CON mice showed significantly more inactive and stereotypical behavior than ENR mice. ENR mice frequently engaged with all enrichment elements, whereby riddles to obtain food reward and the running disc preferably served for active interactions. Offering a second level resulted in high active and inactive interactions. Structural elements fixed at the cagetop were least attractive for the mice. Overall, the presented data underline the positive welfare benefits of enrichment and that mice clearly differentiate between distinct enrichment types, demonstrating that the perspective of the animals themselves should also be taken into account when specifying laboratory housing conditions. This is particularly important, as the ensuring of animal welfare is an essential prerequisite for reliable, reproducible, and scientifically meaningful results.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of different types of enrichment - their usage and effect on home cage behavior in female mice

et al. 2021

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“…Animals of this study were handled by tail since the non-aversive mouse handling techniques such as tunnel and cup handling had not been implemented in the animal facility at the time of study. However, since then, we introduced tunnel and cup handling to the facility and strongly recommend the use of gentle handling methods to minimize stress and anxiety in the mice 27 , 29 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of separated pair housing of female C57BL/6JRj mice on well-being

Hohlbaum

Merle

Frahm³

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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In laboratory animal facilities, it is a common code of practice to house female mice in groups. However, some experimental conditions require to house them individually, even though social isolation may impair their well-being. Therefore, we introduced a separated pair housing system and investigated whether it can refine single housing of adult female C57BL/6JRj mice. Individually ventilated cages (IVC) were divided by perforated transparent walls to separate two mice within a cage. The cage divider allowed visual, acoustic, and olfactory contact between the mice but prevented interindividual body-contact or food sharing. Short- and long-term effects of the separated pair housing system on the well-being of the mice were compared with single and group housing using a range of behavioral and physiological parameters: Nest building behavior was assessed based on the complexity of nests, the burrowing performance was measured by the amount of food pellets removed from a bottle, and trait anxiety-related behavior was tested in the free exploratory paradigm. For the evaluation of the ease of handling, interaction with the experimenter's hand was monitored. Social interaction with unknown conspecifics and locomotor activity were investigated in a test arena. Moreover, body weight and stress hormone (metabolites) were measured in feces and hair. After the mice spent a day under the respective housing conditions, concentrations of fecal corticosterone metabolites were higher in separated pair-housed mice, and they built nests of a higher complexity when compared to single-housed mice. The latter effect was still observable eight weeks later. In week 8, separated pair-housed mice showed less locomotor activity in the social interaction arena compared to mice from the other housing systems, i.e., single and group housing. Regardless of the time of testing, pair housing improved the burrowing performance. Separated pair-housed mice were more difficult to catch than group-housed mice. Hair corticosterone, progesterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone concentrations changed with increasing age independently of the housing system. There were no effects of the housing systems on trait anxiety-related behavior in the free exploratory paradigm, voluntary interaction with the experimenter’s hand, and body weight. Overall, the transfer to the separated pair housing system caused short-term stress responses in female C57BL/6JRj mice. Long-term effects of separated pair housing were ambiguous. On one hand, separated pair housing increased nesting and burrowing behavior and may therefore be beneficial compared to single housing. But on the other hand, locomotor activity decreased. The study underlined that the effects of the housing conditions on physiological and behavioral parameters should be considered when analyzing and reporting animal experiments.

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Non-aversive mouse handling techniques: A survey on the acceptance and concerns of the animal facility and scientific staff

Abstract: HoHlbaum et al. Conflict of interest TH and HH are named inventors on a patent by Johns HopkinsUniversity on the production of mini-brains (also called Brain-Spheres), which is licensed to AxoSim, New Orleans, LA, USA. TH, LS and HH consult AxoSim, and TH is a shareholder.

Cited by 2 publications

References 9 publications

Evaluation of different types of enrichment - their usage and effect on home cage behavior in female mice

Evaluation of different types of enrichment - their usage and effect on home cage behavior in female mice

Effects of separated pair housing of female C57BL/6JRj mice on well-being

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