Burke Darlene A, Morehouse Johnny R, Saraswat Ohri Sujata, Magnuson David S K
Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Health Sciences Campus, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Health Sciences Campus, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Neurotrauma Rep. 2023 Jan 27;4(1):71-81. doi: 10.1089/neur.2022.0059. eCollection 2023.
It is well established that both positive and negative housing conditions of laboratory animals can affect behavioral, biochemical, and physiological responses. Housing enhancements have been shown to have beneficial effects on locomotor outcomes in rodents with spinal cord injury (SCI). Subsequent to an unplanned housing enhancement of the addition of a balcony to home cages by animal care personnel at a research facility, a retrospective analysis of multiple SCI studies was performed to determine whether outcomes differed before (four studies, = 28) and after (four studies, = 23) the addition of the balcony. Locomotor and morphological differences were compared after a mild-moderate T9 spinal cord contusion injury in wild-type mice. Post-injury assessments of locomotor function for 6 weeks included Basso Mouse Scale (BMS) and treadmill kinematic assessments (week 6). Balcony-housed mice showed greater improvements not only in basic locomotor functions (weight-supported stepping, balance) compared to those in standard housing, but also surpassed mice in standard housing without the balcony in higher-order locomotor recovery outcomes, including BMS late-stage recovery measures (paw, tail, and trunk indices). Additionally, balcony-housed mice had overall higher BMS scores, consistently attained more BMS subscores, and had better treadmill track width and stride length compared to those with no balcony. The housing enhancement of a balcony led to unforeseen consequences and unexpected higher recovery outcomes compared to mice in standard housing. This retrospective study highlights the importance of housing conditions in the key outcomes of locomotor recovery after incomplete contusive SCIs in mice.
众所周知，实验动物的正向和负向饲养条件都会影响其行为、生化和生理反应。研究表明，改善饲养条件对脊髓损伤（SCI）啮齿动物的运动结果具有有益影响。在某研究机构，动物护理人员意外地对家笼增加了一个阳台，从而改善了饲养条件。之后，对多项SCI研究进行了回顾性分析，以确定在增加阳台前后（增加前四项研究，n = 28；增加后四项研究，n = 23）结果是否存在差异。对野生型小鼠进行轻度至中度T9脊髓挫伤损伤后，比较其运动和形态学差异。伤后6周的运动功能评估包括巴索小鼠量表（BMS）和跑步机运动学评估（第6周）。与标准饲养条件下的小鼠相比，饲养在有阳台笼子里的小鼠不仅在基本运动功能（负重行走、平衡）方面有更大改善，而且在高阶运动恢复结果方面也超过了没有阳台的标准饲养条件下的小鼠，包括BMS后期恢复指标（爪子、尾巴和躯干指数）。此外，与没有阳台的小鼠相比，饲养在有阳台笼子里的小鼠总体BMS评分更高，始终获得更多的BMS子评分，并且跑步机轨迹宽度和步幅长度更好。与标准饲养条件下的小鼠相比，增加阳台这一饲养条件的改善带来了意想不到的结果和更高的恢复效果。这项回顾性研究强调了饲养条件在小鼠不完全性挫伤性脊髓损伤后运动恢复关键结果中的重要性。
