Effect of Environmental Enrichment on Aggression in BALB/cJ and BALB/cByJ Mice Monitored by Using an Automated System
Effect of Environmental Enrichment on Aggression in BALB/cJ and BALB/cByJ Mice Monitored by Using an Automated System
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DOI：
10.30802/aalas-jaalas-17-000122
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发表时间：
2018-05-01
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
Fletcher, Craig A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Giles, Jareca M.;Whitaker, Julia W.;Fletcher, Craig A.
小鼠之间的攻击性仍然是实验室环境中常见的不良问题，动物福利和科学成果可能会受到损害，这取决于攻击性的严重程度。本研究评估了笼丰富的影响，包括一个双层，安装的“夹层”相比，棉花广场或住房内笼男性侵略超过6周的时间。我们的第一项研究涉及来自高攻击亚系（BALB/cJ）和低攻击亚系（BALB/cByJ）的雄性小鼠的家庭笼行为挑战。侵略性的相互作用和自发活动进行了手动评分，然后通过使用连续自动化的家庭笼监测系统，数字通风笼（DVC）系统获得的活动的措施进行比较。BALB/cJ小鼠在不同的饲养条件下表现出相似的攻击水平，而BALB/cByJ小鼠在夹层饲养时的攻击水平较低。在第二项研究中，视频记录和连续DVC自动化措施收集超过24小时，分为12小时的光明和黑暗阶段。BALB/cByJ小鼠，但不是BALB/cJ小鼠在黑暗阶段的攻击行为增加。然而，DVC检测到更高的活动水平，在黑暗阶段，与光相比较，在两个亚株。DVC记录的活动水平升高与战斗和高水平的运动有关。这些结果表明，一个双层结构形式的富集减少侵略，这取决于BALB/c亚株，并确认较高的侵略水平的BALB/cJ亚株。此外，我们的研究结果提供的证据表明，DVC是有效的识别小鼠笼的模式，高活动水平，信号可能的侵略发生率，从而可能允许早期干预，从而提高动物福利。
Aggression among mice remains a common undesirable problem in laboratory settings, and animal welfare and scientific outcomes may become compromised depending on the severity of aggression. This study evaluated the effect of cage enrichment comprising a bilevel, mounted 'mezzanine' compared with a cotton square or shelter on intracage male aggression over a 6-wk period. Our first study involved home-cage behavioral challenges to male mice from a high-aggression substrain (BALB/cJ) and low-aggression substrain (BALB/cByJ). Aggressive interactions and locomotor activity were scored manually and then compared with measures of activity obtained by using a continuous automated home-cage monitoring system, the Digital Ventilated Caging (DVC) system. BALB/cJ mice exhibited similar levels of aggression across housing conditions, whereas BALB/cByJ mice had lower aggression when housed with a mezzanine. In the second study, videorecordings and continuous DVC automated measures were collected over 24 h and divided into 12-h light and dark phases. BALB/cByJ mice-but not BALB/cJ-mice had increased aggressive behaviors during the dark phase. However, the DVC detected higher activity levels during the dark phase, compared with the light phase, in both substrains. Elevated activity levels recorded by the DVC correlated with fighting bouts and high levels of locomotion. These results show that a bilevel structural form of enrichment reduces aggression, depending on the BALB/c substrain, and confirms higher aggression levels in the BALB/cJ substrain. In addition, our findings provide evidence that the DVC is effective in identifying mouse cages with patterns of high activity levels, signaling possible aggression incidences, thus potentially allowing for early intervention and consequently improving animal welfare.