General parity between trio and pairwise breeding of laboratory mice in static caging.
Changes made in the 8th edition of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals included new recommendations for the amount of space for breeding female mice. Adopting the new recommendations required, in essence, the elimination of trio breeding practices for all institutions. Both public opinion and published data did not readily support the new recommendations. In response, the National Jewish Health Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee established a program to directly compare the effects of breeding format on mouse pup survival and growth. Our study showed an overall parity between trio and pairwise breeding formats on the survival and growth of the litters, suggesting that the housing recommendations for breeding female mice as stated in the current Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals should be reconsidered.
University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80204; and ross.kedl@ucdenver.edu.
Ross M
RM
Kedl
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Lawrence J
LJ
Wysocki
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
William J
WJ
Janssen
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Willi K
WK
Born
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Matthew D
MD
Rosenbaum
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Julia
J
Granowski
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Jennifer A
JA
Kench
University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80204; and.
Derek L
DL
Fong
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Lisa A
LA
Switzer
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Margaret
M
Cruse
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Hua
H
Huang
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Claudia V
CV
Jakubzick
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Beata
B
Kosmider
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Katsuyuki
K
Takeda
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Thomas J
TJ
Stranova
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Randal C
RC
Klumm
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Christine
C
Delgado
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Saigiridhar
S
Tummala
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Stijn
S
De Langhe
University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80204; and.
John
J
Cambier
University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80204; and.
Katherine
K
Haskins
University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80204; and.
Laurel L
LL
Lenz
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206.
Douglas
D
Curran-Everett
D000818:Animals; D015551:Autoimmunity; D001835:Body Weight; D001947:Breeding / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006799:Housing, Animal / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011247:Pregnancy