Advancing Neuroscience Research by Modernizing Animal Housing to Improve Animal Well-Being and Science

项目摘要 芝加哥大学有一个强大的和不断增长的神经科学计划。这些研究的核心是 作为研究的一部分，非人类灵长类动物被训练来执行行为任务。训练这些行为 任务需要几个月到几年的时间才能完成，成功的结果需要动物处于最佳的身体状态， 和心理健康。确保动物保持良好的健康是动物的共同使命 资源中心和神经科学实验室我们合作对待动物， 改善动物福利和研究成果。这一战略使动物资源中心能够 在该机构对动物的护理和使用方面做出许多改进。我们建议重新装备 翻新的客房采用新的多动物饲养系统，增加了空间的大小和质量 增强它们在丰富的环境中表达物种典型行为的能力 并改善他们的社会住房机会。有了这些新的外壳，我们将能够更好地近似 动物的自然环境，这反过来又使它们更适合人类条件的研究 并有助于提高科学的可重复性和完整性。我们期待着这一积极的 改变，健康问题将有可能减少，由于丰富的机会和社会的改善， 住房这些圈地还将通过创建更大的社会群体来简化运营， 丰富的空间，这将消除需要移动丰富发挥笼子之间的房间， 消除了在动物房和笼清洗之间移动和运输笼的需要。这将减少劳动力 与换笼和洗笼有关。通过减少笼的使用，对环境产生影响 还需要洗涤水、蒸汽和电力。新的住房制度也将提高我们的能力， 通过允许更多的动物被安置在围栏中， 可能与标准笼系统。然而，这项提议最令人兴奋的方面是， 在这些围栏内启动笼边研究。笼边研究允许猴子进行他们的 自愿在其家笼中工作，而不需要运送到实验室，从而也消除了 需要一些动物的水访问调度技术。这将简化研究业务， 除了已经提到的饲养效率之外。因此，向新住房制度的过渡将， 不仅提供一个促进改善动物健康和心理健康的环境， 简化畜牧业运作，但也将积极影响研究成果，并提高科学 通过开创一种新的方法来收集动物的研究数据。

Project Abstract The University of Chicago has a robust and growing neuroscience program. Central to these research studies are non-human primates trained to perform behavioral tasks as part of the research. Training of these behavioral tasks takes months to years to complete and successful outcomes require animals to be in their best physical and psychological health. Assuring animals are kept in excellent health is a shared mission of the Animal Resources Center and the neuroscience laboratories. We approach animal care collaboratively to look for ways to improve animal welfare and research outcomes. This strategy has allowed the Animal Resources Center to make numerous improvements in the care and use of animals at the institution. We propose to outfit newly renovated rooms with a new multi-animal housing system which will increase the size and quality of space available to the animals, enhance their ability to express species-typical behaviors in an enriched environment and improve their social housing opportunities. With these new enclosures, we will be better able to approximate a natural environment for the animals, which in turn makes them better suited for research of human conditions and contributes to enhanced reproducibility and the integrity of the science. We anticipate with this positive change, health problems will potentially be decreased due to improvement in enrichment opportunities and social housing. These enclosures also will streamline operations by creating larger social groups with abundant enrichment space, which will eliminate the need to move enrichment play cages between rooms, and will eliminate the need to move and transport cages between animal rooms and cage wash. This will decrease labor associated with cage changing and cage washing. An environmental impact, through the reduced use of cage wash water, steam, and electricity is also expected. The new housing system will also increase our capacity for maintaining additional primates in the same room by allowing more animals to be housed in the enclosures than possible with standard caging systems. The most enthusiastic aspect of this proposal, however, is the ability to initiate cage side research studies within these enclosures. Cage side studies allow the monkey to conduct their work in their home cage voluntarily without the need for transport to the laboratory, thus also eliminating the need for techniques for water access scheduling in some animals. This will streamline research operations in addition to the husbandry efficiencies already mentioned. The transition to a new housing system will, therefore, not only provide an environment that promotes improved animal health and psychological well-being, and streamline husbandry operations, but will also positively impact research outcomes and improve scientific operations by pioneering a new method to collect research data with the animals.