Temperature Regulation in Laboratory Rodents

Abstract

Rodents are the predominant experimental animals found in life-sciences research laboratories. The body temperature of a rodent is markedly affected by surgical, chemical or environmental manipulation. Because temperature regulation is controlled essentially by a 'holistic' regulatory system, meaning that its responses affect the activities of all other psychological and behavioural processes, it is clear that researchers working with rodents must be familiar with thermoregulatory physiology. With the help of extensive data tables and figures, this book explains the key facets of rodent thermal physiology, including neurological control and gender and intraspecies variations. There is a novel chapter on the effects of trauma, toxic chemicals and other factors. The book should therefore find use in government, academic or industrial laboratories whose researchers are working with rodents.

Body temperatures of house mice artificially selected for high voluntary wheel-running behavior: repeatability and effect of genetic selection

“…Although we found that motor activity was a positive predictor of body temperature, which is consistent with many previous studies (Gordon, 1993;Gordon and Yang, 1997;Kent et al, 1991;Re®netti, 1994), this result does not necessarily imply that wheel running caused an increase in body temperature (Gordon and Yang, 1997). For example, body temperature may have been elevated in anticipation of motor activity.…”

“…Under normothermic conditions, body temperatures of house mice range from 34 to 398C (Gordon, 1993). Such variation has multiple causes.…”

Thermoneutrality, Mice, and Cancer: A Heated Opinion

“…Physiologists have found major differences between the thermal physiology of mice, other mammals, and humans [3,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], such that at ambient temperatures in which humans feel comfortable, mice experience chronic mild cold stress directly impacting their metabolism and thermoregulatory status. Laboratory mice are almost always housed and studied at mildly cool temperatures well below their 'thermoneutral zone' which is the ambient temperature in which metabolic heat production is minimal and the mouse does not need to work to keep warm or cold.…”

Stressed out: providing laboratory animals with behavioral control to reduce the physiological effects of stress

“…Housing mice at, or just below, standard housing temperatures has been shown to decrease reproduction 8,9 , growth 10,11 , organ weight 10 , immune function 10 and increase metabolic rate [12][13][14] . Increasing laboratory ambient temperatures is not a solution because mice prefer different temperatures for different behaviors, times of day and between genders [15][16][17][18] .…”

“…Barnett 45 documented wild house mice living and breeding in food storage freezers, which were kept at − 10 °C. However, studies of hypothermia show that mice can no longer right themselves after 30-99-min exposure at a similar temperature 14 . The difference between the two scenarios is that wild mice in the freezer were able to build an insulating nest, which likely reduced heat loss and created a more favorable thermal microclimate 45 .…”