ArticleScientific reports2017
Optimising reliability of mouse performance in behavioural testing: the major role of non-aversive handling.
Article in Scientific reports, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 104 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
104 citing papers in PubMed, 195 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Effects of Scruff Restraint and Handling-Tail and Tunnel-on Plasma Corticosterone in Female BALB/c Mice (Mus musculus).Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS · 2026Article
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- Lack of evidence for a consistent differential impact of tail and tunnel handling on markers of welfare in laboratory mice.Scientific reports · 2025Article
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- The effects of handling on mouse behavior: cupped hands versus familiar or novel huts or tunnels.PloS one · 2025Article
44 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Handling laboratory animals during test procedures is an important source of stress that may impair reliability of test responses. Picking up mice by the tail is aversive, stimulating stress and anxiety. Responses among anxious animals can be confounded further by neophobia towards novel test environments and avoidance of test stimuli in open areas. However, handling stress can be reduced substantially by using a handling tunnel, or cupping mice without restraint on the open hand. Here we establish whether non-aversive handling, brief prior familiarisation with the test arena and alternative stimulus placement could significantly improve performance of mice in behavioural tests. We use a simple habituation-dishabituation paradigm in which animals must discriminate between two urine stimuli in successive trials, a task that mice can easily perform. Tail handled mice showed little willingness to explore and investigate test stimuli, leading to poor test performance that was only slightly improved by prior familiarisation. By contrast, those handled by tunnel explored readily and showed robust responses to test stimuli regardless of prior familiarisation or stimulus location, though responses were more variable for cup handling. Our study shows that non-aversive tunnel handling can substantially improve mouse performance in behavioural tests compared to traditional tail handling.
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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.