Fiebig Kerstin, Jourdan Thomas, Kock Martin, Krehl Karolina, Merle Roswitha, Thöne-Reineke Christa
1School of Veterinary Medicine, Institute of Animal Welfare, Animal Behavior, and Laboratory Animal Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
2Freelancer scientific author, Freiburg, Germany.
J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2025 Jan 1;64(1):120-131. doi: 10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-23-000114.
Body temperature is an easily measured clinical parameter that provides important information about an animal's health and welfare. In the context of animal experiments, temperature monitoring provides relevant data needed to manage animal care and has been embraced as a means of assessing humane endpoints. At the same time, temperature measurement in the sense of the 3Rs (Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction) should not cause any additional pain or distress to the animals. Therefore, the use of noninvasive, accurate, and cost-effective methods for temperature monitoring is of great importance in research laboratories. The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy and consistency of different temperature measurement methods in black-haired C57BL/6NCrl mice. Body surface temperature measured by noninvasive infrared thermography was compared with established methods: subcutaneous and rectal temperature measurements. The study was conducted on 50 adult female mice, and measurements were taken for 5 d. Temperatures were measured using previously implanted subcutaneous temperature transponders, followed by infrared thermometry and rectal probes. The analyzed data showed that mouse temperature measurement using an infrared camera is an adequate method for noncontact and noninvasive temperature assessment in female C57BL/6NCrl mice and promotes laboratory animal welfare refinement.
体温是一个易于测量的临床参数，能提供有关动物健康和福利的重要信息。在动物实验中，体温监测可提供管理动物护理所需的相关数据，并已被视为评估人道终点的一种手段。同时，从3R原则（替代、优化和减少）的角度来看，体温测量不应给动物带来任何额外的疼痛或痛苦。因此，使用非侵入性、准确且经济高效的体温监测方法在研究实验室中至关重要。本研究的目的是确定不同体温测量方法在黑色C57BL/6NCrl小鼠中的准确性和一致性。将通过非侵入性红外热成像测量的体表温度与既定方法（皮下和直肠温度测量）进行比较。该研究对50只成年雌性小鼠进行，测量持续5天。使用预先植入的皮下温度应答器测量温度，随后进行红外测温及直肠探头测量。分析数据表明，使用红外相机测量小鼠体温是一种适用于雌性C57BL/6NCrl小鼠非接触式和非侵入性体温评估的方法，有助于优化实验动物福利。
