Global Animal Welfare and Training, Charles River Laboratories, Wilmington, Massachusetts.
Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2021 Mar 1;60(2):133-138. doi: 10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-20-000047. Epub 2020 Dec 22.
Little research has been conducted to examine the influence of various methods of providing nest materials-such as dispersing them, providing them as single units, or clustering them-on the behavior and welfare of group-housed mice. In this study, 6 wk-old C57BL/6NCrl mice were housed 3 per cage and randomized into 1 of 3 nest-material groups: 1) one facial tissue per cage (control; female mice, 3 cages; male mice, 3 cages); 2) an 8-g 'puck' of compressed nesting material and a facial tissue (females, 3 cages; males, 3 cages); or 3) 8 g of dispersed paper strips and a facial tissue (females, 3 cages; males, 3 cages). Mouse behavior (agonistic, stereotypic, nesting), physical examination data, and nest scores were evaluated over 16 d. The results showed that mice in the puck and control groups spent more time manipulating nest materials after cage changes than did mice in the paper-strip group. Average nest scores were highest in the paper-strip group compared with controls and puck cages. Female cages with pucks showed no barbering, whereas all other female mice cages demonstrated barbering. Overall, nest pucks may provide a time-consuming activity for mice and may help protect female C57BL/6 mice from barbering. However, more research is needed to replicate and expand these study results.
目前，鲜有研究探讨向群居小鼠提供不同种类筑巢材料（如分散放置、单个提供或集中放置）对其行为和福利的影响。本研究将 6 周龄 C57BL/6NCrl 小鼠每笼饲养 3 只，并随机分为 3 个巢材组：1）每笼 1 张面巾纸（对照；雌鼠 3 笼，雄鼠 3 笼）；2）8g 压缩型巢材块和 1 张面巾纸（雌鼠 3 笼，雄鼠 3 笼）；或 3）8g 分散的纸条和面巾纸（雌鼠 3 笼，雄鼠 3 笼）。在 16 天内评估了小鼠的行为（攻击、刻板、筑巢）、体检数据和巢评分。结果显示，与纸条组相比，更换笼具后，筑巢块组和对照组的小鼠花更多时间摆弄巢材。与对照组和筑巢块笼相比，纸条组的平均巢评分最高。使用筑巢块的雌鼠笼未出现理毛行为，而其他所有雌鼠笼都出现了理毛行为。总体而言，筑巢块可能为小鼠提供了一项耗时的活动，有助于保护 C57BL/6 雌鼠免受理毛行为的影响。然而，需要进一步研究来复制和扩展这些研究结果。
