“Making sense of scents: reducing aggression and uncontrolled variation in laboratory mice.” By Professor Jane Hurst, Department of Veterinary Clinical Science, University of Liverpool. NC3Rs #2 Mouse scents and optimal husbandry Sept 2005. National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of of Animals in Research.
Abstract - "Scents are the primary means of communication in mice. They underlie most aspects of their social behaviour and are particularly important in mediating aggressive interactions and status differentiation among males. This competitive aggression can be a major welfare concern and source of uncontrolled variation among laboratory mice. Scents also play an invisible role in priming reproductive physiology and development, with additional consequences for immunocompetence, introducing another potential source of uncontrolled variation that could influence many types of experiment."
"Here, I provide a brief explanation of how wild mice use scents to recognise each other and to control competitive interactions. I then discuss the consequences of this for aggression among laboratory mice and recommend ways to minimize problems through management practices. Known reproductive priming effects are also summarised to show how exposure to scents and cage group size can influence sex hormone levels, reproductive cycling and development. Careful consideration of husbandry and experimental design can also reduce this source of variability."
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About N. Sivasothi
Sivasothi is lecturing Biodiversity, Ecology, Structure and Function, Marine Biology and Animal Behaviour with the Department of Biological Sciences.
His interests include otters, mangroves, museum databases, coastal ecology, tree-climbing crabs and conservation of biodiversity.
He is also the national coordinator of the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore and Toddycats! Volunteers of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, NUS.