Within the typical laboratory animal housing facility, animals may be exposed to varying intensities of light as a result of cage type, cage position, light source, and other factors. While evidence exists that light contamination...
Conventional bleeding of small laboratory animals is often associated with stress and injuries that can cause haematomas, inflammation and ultimately the death of animals under investigation. Here, we used faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator...
Currently, enrichment consists of a variety of plastic toys to promote natural behaviors, but why use artificial devices when you could use natural materials like the animals experience in their native environment? ... From these...
A study was run to determine the optimum level of bedding to be dispensed into clean mouse cage bases. A depth of approximately 25mm was found to increase foraging and burrowing, decrease fighting, and require...
The EU Directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes specifically states: Animals, except those which are naturally solitary, shall be socially housed in stable groups of compatible individuals. Even in cases where...
Enrichment devices and strategies, as currently endorsed by the Guide, are used to improve laboratory animal health and wellbeing. Many conclusions supporting this premise, however, are based primarily on observational studies with minimal consideration for...
Our institution opened the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurologic Research Institute (NRI) in November of 2010. This facility houses a team of world renowned researchers working with mice and rats to develop treatments for childhood...
This is the third volume of discussions that took place on the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum (LAREF). This forum is dedicated to the exchange of personal experiences of refining the conditions under which...
Physiological and psychological effects of listening to music have been documented in humans. The changes in physiology, cognition and brain chemistry and morphology induced by music have been studied in animal models, providing evidence that...
Owing to their naturally aggressive behaviour, male mice are often housed individually in toxicity studies. However, several publications advocate group-housing of mice to enable normal social behaviour and interactions between the animals. This refinement project...