Back to Search
Start Over
The Time-to-Integrate-to-Nest Test as an Indicator of Wellbeing in Laboratory Mice
- Publication Year :
- 2014
- Publisher :
- American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, 2014.
-
Abstract
- Minimizing and alleviating pain and distress in laboratory mice without compromising the methodologic integrity of research is a crucial goal. However, current methods for welfare assessment in mice are not well suited to cageside checks. In the present study, we developed a simple assessment tool-the time-to-integrate-to-nest test (TINT)-and evaluated its ability to identify mice with compromised welfare. To conduct the TINT, a nominal amount of nesting material is added to a mouse cage, and the nesting behaviors that occur immediately thereafter are observed. The TINT yields a positive result when a mouse integrates the new nesting material into the main nest site within 10 min; failure to interact with the nesting material is defined as a negative TINT. Our first experiment examined whether genetic background and sex are associated with differences in the likelihood of a positive TINT in unmanipulated mice. A significant effect related to mouse strain was found: C3H/HeNCrl had the lowest positive TINT rate among the 10 strains evaluated. A second experiment assessed whether results of the TINT would be altered after a painful surgical procedure, such as carotid artery injury. Despite all mice having received buprenorphine as analgesia at the time of surgery, significantly more mice had a negative TINT for 2 d after surgery than before surgery. Based on the results of the current study, additional work is needed to specifically validate the TINT in injured and noninjured subjects.
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.pmid..........838c48f3bb3a3441f90a9347d033d6c4