Environmental enrichment does not disrupt standardisation of animal experiments.
Environmental enrichment can prevent abnormal behaviours and improve the well-being of laboratory mice, but concerns have been raised that it might disrupt the standardisation of experiments. Based on a multi-laboratory study, I show that animal welfare can be improved by environmental enrichment without disrupting standardisation.
Würbel
Hanno
H
Division of Animal Welfare and Ethology, Institute of Veterinary-Physiology, Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany. hanno.wuerbel@vetmed.uni-giessen.de
D032761:Animal Experimentation / Q000592:standards*; D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004777:Environment; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D006799:Housing, Animal; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice / Q000523:psychology; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL / Q000523:psychology; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA / Q000523:psychology; D013550:Swimming