Tsai P-P, Pachowsky U, Stelzer H D, Hackbarth H
Tierschutzzentrum der Tieraerztlichen Hochschule Hannover, Germany.
Lab Anim. 2002 Oct;36(4):411-9. doi: 10.1258/002367702320389071.
Currently, environmental enrichment is a very common means of improving animal well-being, especially for laboratory animals. Although environmental enrichment seems to be a possible way for improving the well-being of animals, the consideration of housing laboratory animals should not only focus solely on animal well-being, manpower and economics but also on the precision and accuracy of the experimental results. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of enriched cages (nest box, nesting material, climbing bar) on body weight, haematological data and final organ weights. BALB/c, C57BL/6 and A/J mice, originated from Harlan Winkelmann, were used for the experiments - 16 animals of each strain. Animals at 3 weeks of age were marked and separated randomly to enriched or non-enriched cages, in groups of four, half for each housing condition. Both cages were type III Makrolon cages, only the enriched cages contained a nest box, a wood bar for climbing and nesting material. Animals were kept in a clean animal room under specific pathogen free (SPF) conditions. Body weights were recorded every week. Blood samples were collected at 14 weeks of age (white blood cells (WBC), red blood cells (RBC), haemoglobin (HGB), and haematocrit (HCT) were analysed). At 15 weeks of age, the animals were euthanized by CO(2) in their home cages, and final body weight and organ weights (heart, liver, kidney, adrenal, spleen and uterus) were recorded immediately. Although nearly all the test variables were not affected by environmental enrichment in their mean values, the enriched group showed higher coefficients of variation in many variables, and strain differences of both housing conditions were not consistent. The influences of enrichment were shown to be strain- and test-dependent. Such effects may lead to an increase in the number of animals which is necessary or may change the experimental results, especially when a study, using enriched housing conditions, focuses on strain differences. Since the same enrichment design can result in different influences, a positive or a negative or no adverse effect, due to the strain and the variables studied, researchers need to collect more information before enrichment designs are introduced into experimental plans.
目前，环境富集是改善动物福利的一种非常常见的手段，尤其是对于实验动物而言。尽管环境富集似乎是改善动物福利的一种可行方法，但饲养实验动物的考量不应仅局限于动物福利、人力和经济因素，还应关注实验结果的精确性和准确性。本研究的目的是评估富集笼（巢箱、筑巢材料、攀爬杆）对体重、血液学数据和最终器官重量的影响。实验使用了源自哈兰·温克尔曼公司的BALB/c、C57BL/6和A/J小鼠，每个品系16只动物。3周龄的动物被标记并随机分为富集笼组或非富集笼组，每组4只，每种饲养条件各占一半。两种笼子均为III型聚碳酸酯笼，只有富集笼包含一个巢箱、一根用于攀爬的木条和筑巢材料。动物饲养在清洁的动物房中，处于无特定病原体（SPF）条件下。每周记录体重。在14周龄时采集血样（分析白细胞（WBC）、红细胞（RBC）、血红蛋白（HGB）和血细胞比容（HCT））。在15周龄时，在动物的饲养笼中通过二氧化碳使其安乐死，并立即记录最终体重和器官重量（心脏、肝脏、肾脏、肾上腺、脾脏和子宫）。尽管几乎所有测试变量的平均值未受环境富集影响，但富集组在许多变量中显示出更高的变异系数，且两种饲养条件下的品系差异并不一致。结果表明，富集的影响具有品系和测试依赖性。这种影响可能导致所需动物数量增加，或者可能改变实验结果，尤其是当一项使用富集饲养条件的研究关注品系差异时。由于相同的富集设计可能因所研究的品系和变量而产生不同影响，可能产生积极、消极或无不利影响，因此研究人员在将富集设计引入实验计划之前需要收集更多信息。
