1. Bite Wounds and Dominance Structures in Male and Female African Spiny Mice (Acomys cahirinus): Implications for Animal Welfare and the Generalizability of Experimental Results.
- Author
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Varholick, Justin A., Godinez, Gizelle, Jenkins, Ashley, Mobin, Sarim, and Maden, Malcolm
- Subjects
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WOUND healing , *ANIMAL welfare , *LABORATORY mice , *WOUNDS & injuries , *MICE , *MENSTRUAL cycle , *ANIMAL aggression - Abstract
Simple Summary: Animals often inflict bite wounds in laboratory housing, compromising animal welfare and, potentially, experimental results. For example, 1.5–14% of male laboratory mice (Mus musculus) obtain bite wounds over the course of a year. Recently, spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus) have become more popular in laboratory research for their regenerative healing and menstrual cycling, but we noticed frequent severe wounding in males and females in our colony—likely related to their relatively weak skin. Thus, we recorded the frequency and severity of bite wounding in our colony for one year and found that 46% of spiny mice had at least one bite wound, regardless of sex. The bite wounds in females were less severe, with single wounds on the rump, while males more often had multiple wounds on their anterior and rump. In a separate study, both sexes established stable dominance structures, with most of the fights occurring at the start of the active/dark cycle. Aged animals greater than 22 months old were never observed fighting, and the study on bite wounding suggested they also do not inflict bite wounds. These results have implications for both spiny mouse welfare and experimental results using spiny mice since repeated physical trauma can affect healing and menstrual cycling in mice and humans. Bite wounds due to aggression in male laboratory mice (Mus musculus) are a major welfare concern, often leading to attrition, chronic activation of the innate immune system, and significant impacts on the experimental results derived from the use of these animals as models. Bite wounding within the home-cage of spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus)—a valuable research model for wound healing and menstruation—is poorly characterized. While we have anecdotally observed frequent bite wounding in Acomys, the frequency of aggression within the home-cage, the severity of the bite wounds, and the types of dominance structures remain unstudied. Here, we report that 46% of Acomys cages in our colony had at least one bite wound over the course of a year and that same-sex pairs fought in the home-cage 10% of the time during their dark/active phase. Both sexes inflicted wounds and frequently engaged in agonistic behaviors, even with stable dominance structures. We found that females inflicted less severe bite wounds in same-sex housing. Also, aged females in same-sex pairs were never observed fighting, and no bite wounds were observed in aged Acomys. These results suggest that we should consider whether bite wounding negatively impacts our experimental results since physical trauma is known to alter menstrual cycling and healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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