Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Metabolic Health, Center for Energy Metabolism and Reproduction, Shenzhen, Institutes of Advanced Technology, Shenzhen, China.
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2448:235-250. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2087-8_15.
Temperature has a profound effect on many aspects of murine physiology. This raises the question of the best temperature at which mice should be housed to maximize the translational potential to humans. The temperatures at which mice have been routinely kept for studies of molecular physiology (20-21 °C) maximize the comfort of animal handling staff. There is a widespread movement suggesting we should perform experiments instead on mice housed at 30 °C. This often produces very different outcomes. Here we analyze the basis of this suggestion and show that while 20-21 °C is too cold, 30 °C is probably too hot. Rather we suggest an intermediate temperature "the Goldilocks solution" of 25-26 °C is probably optimal. This should be combined with providing animals with nesting material so that they can construct nests to generate microclimates that are within their own control. Providing copious nesting material has additional spin-off advantages in terms of increasing environmental enrichment. Ultimately, however, advocating a single temperature to mimic human physiology is plagued by the problem that humans vary widely in the temperature environments they experience, with consequences for human disease. Hence studying responses at a range of temperatures may provide the greatest insights and translational potential.
温度对小鼠生理的许多方面都有深远的影响。这就提出了一个问题，即应该将小鼠饲养在什么最佳温度下，以最大限度地提高对人类的转化潜力。为了进行分子生理学研究，通常将小鼠饲养在 20-21°C 的温度下，以最大限度地提高动物饲养人员的舒适度。有一种广泛的观点认为，我们应该改用 30°C 饲养的小鼠进行实验。这通常会产生非常不同的结果。在这里，我们分析了这种建议的基础，并表明虽然 20-21°C 太冷，30°C 又可能太热。我们建议中间温度（“金发姑娘原则”），即 25-26°C 可能是最佳的。同时，应该为动物提供筑巢材料，以便它们可以构建巢穴，从而产生在其自身控制范围内的微气候。提供大量的筑巢材料还有助于增加环境丰富度，从而带来额外的好处。然而，提倡单一温度来模拟人体生理学存在一个问题，即人类在经历的温度环境中差异很大，这对人类疾病有影响。因此，研究一系列温度下的反应可能会提供最大的见解和转化潜力。
