School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom.
IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Animal Care Unit, Milan, Italy.
PLoS One. 2018 May 17;13(5):e0197054. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197054. eCollection 2018.
Electromagnetic field (EMF) technology has the potential to improve scientific data capture and welfare assessment by allowing automated data collection from individual cages. However, it is important to determine any impact that a new technology itself may have on animal welfare, and previous studies have found contrasting results of EMF on laboratory rodent anxiety-like behaviour and cognition. We therefore investigated whether there was an effect of low frequency EMF experienced continuously over a six-week period, as an integral part of the animal housing system, on measures of mouse anxiety-related behaviour, cognition and welfare. We housed mice (N = 80) of two strains (BALB/cAnNCrl and C57BL/6NCrl) separately in Individually Ventilated Cages (IVCs) in groups of four, either with the EMF plate turned 'on' or 'off' (n = 5). Some measures, e.g. food and water utilisation, were collected at regular intervals, whereas measures of anxiety-like behaviour (e.g. open field test) and cognitive performance (novel-object recognition test) were collected only at the end of the study. We found expected strong strain differences in most measures, e.g. latency to leave the starting square in an open field test, with C57BL/6NCrl mice moving away sooner, and interactions between strain and time for those measures recorded at more than one time point, e.g. significant weight gain over time for both strains, but with BALB/cAnNCrl mice weighing more. However, we found no significant effects of treatment (EMF 'on'/'off') for any of the measures collected. These results indicate that, for the measures recorded here, there was no measurable impact on the behaviour and welfare of low frequency EMF exposure experienced continuously over a six-week period. Housing systems that include EMF monitoring technology may therefore be suitable for use without influencing either animal welfare or scientific outcomes.
电磁场（EMF）技术有可能通过允许从单个笼子自动收集数据来提高科学数据捕获和福利评估的水平。然而，确定新技术本身对动物福利可能产生的任何影响是很重要的，以前的研究发现电磁场对实验室啮齿动物焦虑样行为和认知有不同的影响。因此，我们研究了作为动物住房系统的一个组成部分，连续六周经历低频电磁场是否会对老鼠的焦虑相关行为、认知和福利产生影响。我们将两种品系（BALB/cAnNCrl 和 C57BL/6NCrl）的老鼠（N = 80）分别饲养在独立通风笼（IVC）中，每组四只，其中 EMF 板“开”或“关”（n = 5）。一些措施，如食物和水的利用，定期收集，而焦虑样行为（如旷场试验）和认知表现（新物体识别试验）的措施仅在研究结束时收集。我们发现，大多数措施都存在预期的强烈的品系差异，例如在旷场试验中离开起始方块的潜伏期，C57BL/6NCrl 老鼠离开得更快，并且在不止一个时间点记录的措施之间存在品系和时间的相互作用，例如，两种品系的体重都在增加，但 BALB/cAnNCrl 老鼠的体重增加更多。然而，我们没有发现处理（电磁场“开”/“关”）对任何测量结果有显著影响。这些结果表明，对于这里记录的措施，在连续六周的时间内连续经历低频电磁场暴露对行为和福利没有可测量的影响。因此，包含电磁场监测技术的住房系统可以在不影响动物福利或科学结果的情况下使用。
