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Cited by 37Animal Behavior and Welfare StudiesAnimal testing and alternativesVeterinary Pharmacology and Anesthesia

Evaluation of the effects of space allowance on measures of animal welfare in laboratory mice

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Bailoo, Jeremy D., Murphy, Eimear, Varholick, Justin A., Novak, Janja, Palme, Rupert, Würbel, Hanno·2018·Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/s41598-017-18493-6PMC PMC5768730
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Abstract

We studied how space allowance affects measures of animal welfare in mice by systematically varying group size and cage type across three levels each in both males and females of two strains of mice (C57BL/6ByJ and BALB/cByJ; n = 216 cages, a total of 1152 mice). This allowed us to disentangle the effects of total floor area, group size, stocking density, and individual space allocation on a broad range of measures of welfare, including growth (food and water intake, body mass); stress physiology (glucocorticoid metabolites in faecal boli); emotionality (open field behaviour); brain function (recurrent perseveration in a two-choice guessing task); and home-cage behaviour (activity, stereotypic behaviour). While increasing group size was associated with a decrease in food and water intake in general, and more specifically with increased attrition due to escalated aggression in male BALB mice, no other consistent effects of any aspect of space allowance were found with respect to the measures studied here. Our results indicate that within the range of conditions commonly found in laboratory mouse housing, space allowance as such has little impact on measures of welfare, except for group size which may be a risk factor for escalating aggression in males of some strains.

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  • Cage/tank/housing system (type and dimensions) affects behaviour.

    “Cage/tank/housing system (type and dimensions) | Affects behaviour [177] and fear learning [178].”

    From Reporting animal research: Explanation and elaboration for the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0 (2020) · cites this paper as [177]

    The Discussion reports increased aggression with larger group sizes and floor areas in male BALB mice, so the paper supports an effect on that specific behaviour. It also says space allowance had little effect on the other behaviours studied; the Results sections report no differences in home-cage activity or open-field behaviour across cage conditions. The unqualified claim that housing type and dimensions affect behaviour overstates this limited finding. Fear learning is attributed to a different citation. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Bailoo, J. D., Murphy, E., Varholick, J. A., Novak, J., Palme, R., & Würbel, H.
Affiliations
  • University of Bern (CH)
  • University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (AT)
Corresponding author
Bailoo, Jeremy D.
ORCID
Venue
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2018-01-15
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
713-713
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41598-017-18493-6
PMC
PMC5768730
OpenAlex
W2784208568
Cited by
37
References
7
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6
FWCI
7.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Bern Open Repository and Information System (University of Bern) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
Funders
FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (322576)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal testing and alternatives
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Veterinary Pharmacology and Anesthesia
Keywords
animal welfare, laboratory mice, space allowance, group size, stocking density, cage type, floor area, stress physiology, glucocorticoid metabolites, open field behavior, perseveration, stereotypy, food and water intake, body mass, aggression, BALB/cByJ
MeSH terms
Aggression, Animals, Animal Welfare, Behavior, Animal, Female, Housing, Animal, Male, Mice, Inbred BALB C, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Population Density

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