TY - JOUR ID - 129002260 TI - Long-term effects of husbandry procedures on stress-related parameters in male mice of two strains. AU - Baumans, Vera AU - Van Loo, P. L. P. AU - Van der Meer, E. AU - Kruitwagen, C. L. J. J. AU - Koolhaas, J. M. AU - Van Zutphen, L. F. M. PY - 2004 DB - UniCat KW - Activity. KW - Adrenal tyrosine hydroxylase. KW - Adrenal. KW - Aggression. KW - Aggressive-behavior. KW - Aggressive. KW - Behaviour. KW - Body weight. KW - Body-weight. KW - Cage. KW - Cages. KW - Chronic stress. KW - Cleaning. KW - Corticosterone levels. KW - Corticosterone. KW - Cues. KW - Enriched. KW - Environmental enrichment. KW - Experience. KW - Experiment. KW - Experiments. KW - Food. KW - Group. KW - Husbandry. KW - Inbred strains. KW - Laboratory mice. KW - Laboratory. KW - Level. KW - Long-term. KW - Male dba/2j mice. KW - Male laboratory mice. KW - Male mice. KW - Male-mice. KW - Male. KW - Mice. KW - Modulation. KW - Mouse. KW - Nesting material. KW - Olfactory cues. KW - Olfactory. KW - Parameters. KW - Physiological. KW - Provision. KW - Rats. KW - Stress. KW - Test. KW - Time. KW - Tyrosine-hydroxylase. KW - Tyrosine. KW - Urine. KW - Weight. KW - Welfare. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:129002260 AB - In socially unstable groups of male laboratory mice, individuals may experience a chronic stress situation. Previous experiments have shown that the transfer of specific olfactory cues during cage cleaning, and the provision of nesting material decrease aggression and stress in group-housed male mice. In this study, the combined effect of these husbandry procedures were tested for their long-term effect on stress in groups of moderately aggressive (BALB/c) and severely aggressive (CD-1) male mice. The physiological and behavioural stress-related parameters used were body weight, food and water intake, spleen and thymus weight, adrenal tyrosine hydroxylase activity, urine corticosterone levels and behaviour in a cage emergence test. Long-term provision of nesting material and its transfer during cage cleaning was found to influence several stress-related physiological parameters. Mice housed in cages enriched with nesting material had lower urine corticosterone levels and heavier thymuses, and they consumed less food and water than standard-housed mice. Furthermore, marked differences were found between strains. CD-1 mice were less anxious in the cage emergence test, weighed more, ate and drank more, and had heavier thymuses but lighter spleens and lower corticosterone levels than BALB/c mice. We conclude that the long-term provision of nesting material, including the transfer of nesting material during cage cleaning, reduces stress and thereby enhances the welfare of laboratory mice ER -