Proper micro-environment alleviates mortality in laboratory mouse breeding induced by litter overlap and older dams.
Journal
Communications biology
ISSN: 2399-3642
Titre abrégé: Commun Biol
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101719179
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
17 Aug 2024
17 Aug 2024
Historique:
received:
14
02
2024
accepted:
30
07
2024
medline:
18
8
2024
pubmed:
18
8
2024
entrez:
17
8
2024
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
The ongoing worldwide effort to reduce animal numbers in research often omits the issue of pre-weaning mortality in mouse breeding. A conservative estimate of 20% mortality would mean approximately 1.1 M mice die annually in the EU before scientific use. We hypothesize that pre-weaning mortality in laboratory mouse breeding is associated with cage social and macro/micro-environment conditions. Here we count pups from 509 C57BL/6J litters daily for accurate detection of mortality, and monitor cage micro-environment for 172 C57BL/6J litters. Probability of pups to die increases with the increase in dam age, number and age of older pups in the cage (of overlapped/cohabitating litters), and in small (<6 pups) and large (>11 pups) focal litters. Higher temperatures (>23.6 °C) and nest scores (>3.75) compensate for some of the socially-associated risks for pup death. These findings can be implemented in strategies for reducing pre-weaning mouse mortality, a more welfare-friendly and sustainable approach for science.
Identifiants
pubmed: 39154136
doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06654-z
pii: 10.1038/s42003-024-06654-z
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1008Informations de copyright
© 2024. The Author(s).
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