Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-f46jp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-11T04:19:40.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Telemetry as a Method for Measuring the Impact of Housing Conditions on Rats' Welfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

T C Krohn ,
A K Hansen  and
N Dragsted
T C Krohn*
Affiliation:
Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Bülowsvej 15, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark Scanbur BK A/S, Lellinge, Denmark Division of Laboratory Animal Science and Welfare, Department of Pharmacology and Pathobiology, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Bülowsvej 15, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
A K Hansen
Affiliation:
Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Bülowsvej 15, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark Division of Laboratory Animal Science and Welfare, Department of Pharmacology and Pathobiology, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Bülowsvej 15, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
N Dragsted
Affiliation:
Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Bülowsvej 15, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark Safety Pharmacology, Novo Nordisk A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark
*
§ Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: tkr@kvl.dk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Various tools have been developed over previous years to study the welfare of laboratory animals. These include preference tests, which are commonly used to evaluate housing environments. Preference tests, however, have some pitfalls: they supply information only on the animals’ present preferences, and they allow the animal the choice only between the options offered. Other methods based upon the collection of clinico-chemical data require handling of the animals, which can be stressful in itself. An alternative may be to use telemetry to measure the changes in physiological parameters caused by different environmental conditions. The aim of this study was to use telemetry to evaluate the short-term impact of housing conditions on rodents. We monitored heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature in rats kept on three different types of flooring — bedding, grid floors and plastic floors. The study revealed significant differences in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature between rats housed in the three conditions, indicating that both grid floors and plastic floors are more stressful for the animals than bedding. The observed differences did not diminish over the two-week observation period. The grid-floor housing induced elevations in blood pressure and heart rate. Blood pressure remained elevated even when the animals were returned to standard bedding, whereas the heart rate declined back to its original value immediately in response to this shift. This study shows that telemetry is a very effective tool but that it needs integrating with other methods: in addition, a greater understanding of the biological significance of the changes in cardiovascular parameters is required before the hypothesis that these changes represent an indication of distress can be accepted.

Keywords

animal welfareheart ratehousing conditionsratssystolic blood pressuretelemetry
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , February 2003 , pp. 53 - 62
Copyright
© 2003 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Batchelor, G R 1994 The rest/activity rhythm of the laboratory rat housed under different systems. Animal Technology 45: 181–187Google Scholar
Baumans, V, Stafleu, F R and Bouw, J 1987 Testing housing system for mice — the value of a preference test. Zeitschrift für Versuchstierkunde 29: 9–14Google ScholarPubMed
Blom, H J M 1993 Evaluation of housing conditions for laboratory mice and rats — the use of preference tests for studying choice behaviour. PhD Thesis, University of Utrecht, The NetherlandsGoogle Scholar
Dahlborn, K, van Gils, BAA, van de Weerd, H A, van Dijk, J E and Baumans, V 1996 Evaluation of longterm environmental enrichment in the mouse. Scandinavian Journal of Laboratory Animal Science 23: 97–106Google Scholar
Dawkins, M S 1983 The current status of preference tests in the assessment of animal welfare. In: Baxter, S H, Baxter, M R and MacCormack, JAD (eds) Farm Animal Housing and Welfare pp 20–26. Martinus Nijhoff: Dordrecht, The NetherlandsGoogle Scholar
Eskola, S and Kaliste-Korhonen, E 1998 Effects of cage type and gnawing blocks on weight gain, organ weights and open-field behaviour in Wistar rats. Scandinavian Journal of Laboratory Animal Science 25: 180–193Google Scholar
Fokkema, D S, Koolhaas, J M and Van der Gugten, J 1995 Individual characteristics of behavior, blood pressure, and adrenal hormones in colony rats. Physiology & Behavior 57: 857–862CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friend, T H 1980 Stress: what is it and how can it be quantified? International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems 1: 366–374Google Scholar
Haemisch, A, Voss, T and Gärtner, K 1994 Effects of environmental enrichment on aggressive behavior, dominance hierarchies, and endocrine states in male DBA/2J mice. Physiology & Behavior 56: 1041–1048CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Livezey, G T, Miller, J M and Vogel, W H 1985 Plasma norepinephrine, epinephrine and corticosterone stress responses to restraint in individual male and female rats, and their correlations. Neuroscience Letters 62: 51–56CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manser, C E, Broom, D M, Overend, P and Morris, T H 1998 Operant studies to determine the strength of preference in laboratory rats for nest-boxes and nesting materials. Laboratory Animals 32: 36–41CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manser, C E, Morris, T H and Broom, D M 1995 An investigation into the effects of solid or grid cage flooring on the welfare of laboratory rats. Laboratory Animals 29: 353–363CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meerlo, P, van den Hoofdakker, R H, Koolhaas, J M and Daan, S 1997 Stress-induced changes in circadian rhythms of body temperature and activity in rats are not caused by pacemaker changes. Journal of Biological Rhythms 12: 80–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, W M S and Burch, R L 1959 The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique. Methuen & Co: London, UKGoogle Scholar
Satinoff, E 1998 Patterns of circadian body temperature rhythms in aged rats. Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology 25: 135–140CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van den Buuse, M 1994 Circadian rhythms of blood pressure, heart rate, and locomotor activity in spontaneously hypertensive rats as measured with radio-telemetry. Physiology & Behavior 55: 783–787CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van den Buuse, M and Malpas, S C 1997 24-hour recordings of blood pressure, heart rate and behavioural activity in rabbits by radio-telemetry: effects of feeding and hypertension. Physiology & Behavior 62: 83–89CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walsh, R N and Cummins, R A 1976 The open-field test: a critical review. Psychological Bulletin 83: 482504CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed