SynthesisBMC neuroscience2013
Improving basic and translational science by accounting for litter-to-litter variation in animal models.
Synthesis in BMC neuroscience, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 122 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
122 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 231 citations in OpenAlex.
- The intrinsic plasticity of medial vestibular nucleus neurons during vestibular compensation-a systematic review and meta-analysis.Systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Animal models of maternal high fat diet exposure and effects on metabolism in offspring: a meta-regression analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2017Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Developmental alcohol exposure alters domains of executive function in rodents.Physiology & behavior · 2026Article
- Oral iron-induced stunting is associated with increased Christensenella abundance in a piglet model for human infants.European journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Urogenital immune signatures are associated with birth outcomes after maternal urinary tract infection.Science translational medicine · 2026Article
- Homeostatic coupling of cortical and brainstem delta rhythms in sleeping infant rats.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Evaluation of metabolism-related molecules in rat model of autism spectrum disorders.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Experimental Designs for Preclinical Neuroscience Experiments: Part 2-Blocking and Blocked Designs.eNeuro · 2026Review
- A minimally invasive, scalable and reproducible neonatal rat model of severe focal brain injury.Brain communications · 2026Article
- A transient feature of the inferior olive supports the development of cerebellar internal models.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Intralitter Variability Influences the Developmental Impact of Valproic Acid Exposure in CD-1 Mice.Journal of applied toxicology : JAT · 2025Article
- The impact of melatonin-enriched media on epigenetic and perinatal changes induced by embryo culture in a mouse model.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2025Article
- Effects of TBBPA Exposure on Neurodevelopment and Behavior in Mice.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Developmental Disturbances in Animal Models of Autism Spectrum Disorder.Developmental neurobiology · 2025Review
- Rearing in a Shelved Environment Chronically Modifies Offspring Behaviour and Physiology.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Article
- Disruption of tryptophan metabolism by high-fat diet-triggered maternal immune activation promotes social behavioral deficits in male mice.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Impact of Prenatal Dietary Soy on Cerebellar Neurodevelopment and Function in Experimental Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Environmental enrichment reverses prenatal ethanol exposure-induced attention-deficits in rats.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Lifelong high-fat, high-sucrose diet causes sex-specific heart dysfunction in mouse offspring.Academia medicine · 2025Article
62 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAnimals from the same litter are often more alike compared with animals from different litters. This litter-to-litter variation, or "litter effects", can influence the results in addition to the experimental factors of interest. Furthermore, sometimes an experimental treatment can only be applied to whole litters rather than to individual offspring. An example is the valproic acid (VPA) model of autism, where VPA is administered to pregnant females thereby inducing the disease phenotype in the offspring. With this type of experiment the sample size is the number of litters and not the total number of offspring. If such experiments are not appropriately designed and analysed, the results can be severely biased as well as extremely underpowered.
resultsA review of the VPA literature showed that only 9% (3/34) of studies correctly determined that the experimental unit (n) was the litter and therefore made valid statistical inferences. In addition, litter effects accounted for up to 61% (p<0.001) of the variation in behavioural outcomes, which was larger than the treatment effects. In addition, few studies reported using randomisation (12%) or blinding (18%), and none indicated that a sample size calculation or power analysis had been conducted.
conclusionsLitter effects are common, large, and ignoring them can make replication of findings difficult and can contribute to the low rate of translating preclinical in vivo studies into successful therapies. Only a minority of studies reported using rigorous experimental methods, which is consistent with much of the preclinical in vivo literature.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.