Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: A decline in mice welfare can be indicative of underlying pathology. Often, these changes in mouse behaviors are difficult to detect before the pathology has significantly advanced. Our experiments have revealed that cage-lid hanging, a “luxury” behavior in mice, can serve as an indicator of welfare in different models of pain. The hanging behavior is identified as an event where a mouse climbs onto the metal lid of the laboratory cage, suspending itself off the cage floor. The goal of this project was to characterize and evaluate the hanging behavior of mice as a robust early indicator of a decline in physiological welfare. I observed that both acute and chronic pain models robustly reduced the frequency and duration of hanging behavior in mice. My results demonstrated that hanging behavior is a marker of mouse physiological and psychological welfare, that can be easily incorporated to facilitate the early detection of disease.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Ingita Mahendra Patel
Language: English
Subfield: Animal Science and Zoology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2944751450