Influence of environmental enrichment and handling on the acute stress response in individually housed mice

• Published in: Laboratory animals (London) Vol. 41; no. 2; pp. 161 - 173
• Main Authors: Meijer, M.K, Sommer, R, Spruijt, B.M, Zutphen, L.F. van, Baumans, V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.04.2007
• Subjects: animal housing; Animal Husbandry - standards; animal stress; Animals; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Environment; environmental enrichment; Female; Housing, Animal - standards; laboratory animals; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Organ Size; Restraint, Physical - physiology; Stress, Physiological - veterinary; Thymus Gland - anatomy & histology; Time Factors; Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase - metabolism; ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT; MICE; RADIOTELEMETRY; ACUTE STRESS; INDIVIDUAL HOUSING
• ISSN: 0023-6772; 1758-1117
• DOI: 10.1258/002367707780378168

In this study we investigated the effect of environmental enrichment and handling on the acute physiological stress response caused by short periods of restraint in individually housed female mice. Heart rate (HR) and body temperature (BT) were measured by radiotelemetry and compared with plasma corticosterone (pCORT) levels. Also, postmortem thymus weight and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity were assessed. The acute stress response was seen in both HR and BT. Enrichment and handling were found to increase rather than decrease this stress response, but pCORT values, measured 90 min after restraint, suggested a lower stress response in the enriched groups. No effect was found with thymus weight or TH as parameters.