title: A co-housing strategy to improve fecundity of mice in timed matings.
abstract: Timed matings of mice are often carried out to obtain offspring of a precise age when required for a study. Timed matings involve housing male and female mice together for a limited time period, typically overnight. A limitation of this practice is that many mouse pairs fail to mate during the brief co-housing period. The authors co-housed each breeding pair in the same cage but separated by a transparent partition for 3 d before carrying out timed matings. This co-housing strategy resulted in increased copulation during the timed mating period and also significantly increased the average number of pups produced per breeding pair. The authors suggest that co-housing likely permits male urine-borne pheromones to induce female estrus and also enables the expression of male and female mating behaviors.
authors: Department of Immunology, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
authors: Robert J
authors: RJ
authors: Stiles
authors: Adam G
authors: AG
authors: Schrum
authors: Diana
authors: D
authors: Gil
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000502:physiology*; D006799:Housing, Animal; D007756:Laboratory Animal Science; D008098:Litter Size; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors