The effect of group size, age and handling frequency on inter-male aggression in CD 1 mice

Jirkof, Paulin; Bratcher, Natalie A; Medina, Letty M; Strasburg, Donna; Ebert, Paige A.; Gaskill, Brianna N.

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-59012-4

Cited by 21 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Multiple factors tested in this model did not appear to be significant predictors of fighting despite past research suggesting otherwise. Of particular note was the lack of a significant effect of the number of mice in the cage, which previous studies have shown to be the key factor underlying increased aggression at higher stocking density 31,32 , but see 35 for a counter-example. Our failure to observe this effect may be related to our SOP for injured mice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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The epidemiology of fighting in group-housed laboratory mice

Theil

Ahloy‐Dallaire

Weber

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Injurious home-cage aggression (fighting) in mice affects both animal welfare and scientific validity. It is arguably the most common potentially preventable morbidity in mouse facilities. Existing literature on mouse aggression almost exclusively examines territorial aggression induced by introducing a stimulus mouse into the home-cage of a singly housed mouse (i.e. the resident/intruder test). However, fighting occurring in mice living together in long-term groups under standard laboratory housing conditions has barely been studied. We performed a point-prevalence epidemiological survey of fighting at a research institution with an approximate 60,000 cage census. A subset of cages was sampled over the course of a year and factors potentially influencing home-cage fighting were recorded. Fighting was almost exclusively seen in group-housed male mice. Approximately 14% of group-housed male cages were observed with fighting animals in brief behavioral observations, but only 14% of those cages with fighting had skin injuries observable from cage-side. Thus simple cage-side checks may be missing the majority of fighting mice. Housing system (the combination of cage ventilation and bedding type), genetic background, time of year, cage location on the rack, and rack orientation in the room were significant risk factors predicting fighting. Of these predictors, only bedding type is easily manipulated to mitigate fighting. Cage ventilation and rack orientation often cannot be changed in modern vivaria, as they are baked in by cookie-cutter architectural approaches to facility design. This study emphasizes the need to invest in assessing the welfare costs of new housing and husbandry systems before implementing them.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…At the cage level, multiple studies suggest higher stocking densities increase aggression and fighting 31 – 34 , although recent work in modern caging systems complicates this story 35 . This effect seems to be driven not by cage size or density per se, but by the absolute number of mice in the cage 15 , 31 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The epidemiology of fighting in group-housed laboratory mice

Theil

Ahloy‐Dallaire

Weber

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…Locomotion activities (horizontal, total distance traveled, number of movements, stereotypy counts) were significantly increased in neuronal-specific conditional p53 KO mice compared to wild-type mice [88]. In addition, individually housed mice had high nest scores, low body weight, and increased sucrose and food consumption [89]. These multiple factors may affect the contradictory phenotypes of p53 mice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

The Intricate Role of p53 in Adipocyte Differentiation and Function

Lee

Chung

Lee

et al. 2020

Cells

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For more than three decades, numerous studies have demonstrated the function of p53 in cell cycle, cellular senescence, autophagy, apoptosis, and metabolism. Among diverse functions, the essential role of p53 is to maintain cellular homeostatic response to stress by regulating proliferation and apoptosis. Recently, adipocytes have been studied with increasing intensity owing to the increased prevalence of metabolic diseases posing a serious public health concern and because metabolic dysfunction can directly induce tumorigenesis. The prevalence of metabolic diseases has steadily increased worldwide, and a growing interest in these diseases has led to the focus on the role of p53 in metabolism and adipocyte differentiation with or without metabolic stress. However, our collective understanding of the direct role of p53 in adipocyte differentiation and function remains insufficient. Therefore, this review focuses on the newly discovered roles of p53 in adipocyte differentiation and function.

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“…Notably, different strains, sexes, ages, and housing conditions of mice can affect thermal preference. 37,58,59 For example, older (>11 months) CD-1s prefer warmer temperatures, whereas older C57BL/6 mice do not. Singly housed older CD-1s also prefer warmer conditions than group housed ones, while younger CD-1s did not differ in preference when housed individually or in groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential modulation of thermal preference after sensitization by optogenetic or pharmacological activation of heat-sensitive nociceptors

Zain

Bonin

2020

Preprint

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Common approaches to studying chronic pain in pre-clinical animal models paradoxically involve measuring reflexive withdrawal responses that are more indicative of acute nociceptive pain. These methods typically do not capture the ongoing nature of chronic pain nor report on behavioral changes associated with pain. In addition, data collection and analysis protocols are often labour-intensive and require direct investigator interactions, potentially introducing bias. In this study, we develop and characterize a low-cost, easily assembled behavioral assay that yields self-reported temperature preference from mice which is sensitive to peripheral sensitization protocols. This system uses a partially automated and freely available analysis pipeline to streamline the data collection process and enable objective analysis. We found that after intraplantar administration of the TrpV1 agonist, capsaicin, mice preferred to stay in cooler temperatures than control injected mice. We further observed that gabapentin, a non-opioid analgesic commonly prescribed to treat chronic pain, reversed this aversion to higher temperatures. We further observed that optogenetic activation of the central terminals of TrpV1+ primary afferents via in vivo spinal light delivery did not induce a similar change in thermal preference, indicating a role for peripheral nociceptor activity in the modulation of temperature preference. We conclude that this easily produced and robust sensory assay provides an alternative approach to investigate the contribution of central and peripheral mechanisms to pathological sensory processing that does not rely on reflexive responses evoked by noxious stimuli.

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The effect of group size, age and handling frequency on inter-male aggression in CD 1 mice

Cited by 21 publications

References 63 publications

The epidemiology of fighting in group-housed laboratory mice

The epidemiology of fighting in group-housed laboratory mice

The Intricate Role of p53 in Adipocyte Differentiation and Function

Differential modulation of thermal preference after sensitization by optogenetic or pharmacological activation of heat-sensitive nociceptors

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