ArticleScientific reports2019
Improving the practicality of using non-aversive handling methods to reduce background stress and anxiety in laboratory mice.
Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
83 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 136 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bored at home?-A systematic review on the effect of environmental enrichment on the welfare of laboratory rats and mice.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Pooled it
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- Phenotypic Behavioural Effects of Genetic Deletion of the Vesicular Glutamate Transporter 3 in 5-Hydroxytryptamine Neurons.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2026Article
- An integrated experimental and computational systems biology analysis reveals molecular mechanisms underlying reproductive toxicity induced by manganese and atrazine.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Alternative antibiotic regimens improve palatability and welfare in mice for gut bacterial depletion.Lab animal · 2026Article
- Strategies for Optimizing Genetic Mouse Models to Enhance the Understanding of Parkinson's Disease.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) Acutely Exposed to Mouse Ventral Tegmental Area IJournal of neurochemistry · 2026Article
- Adoption of MMPose, a general purpose pose estimation library, for animal tracking.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
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- Effects of enrichment removal on cognitive judgement bias of mice: a comparison of two paradigms.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- Tricaine methanesulfonate and eugenol during semen collection do not affect fertilization and hatching rates onAnimal reproduction · 2026Article
- 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
- Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Impairs Fear Extinction and Network Excitability in the Infralimbic Cortex.Journal of neurotrauma · 2025Article
- Approved Ambiguities: An Analysis of Applications for the Ethical Review of Animal Research in Sweden-Focusing on Harm, Benefit, and the 3Rs.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Manganese mitigates atrazine-induced oxidative stress and hepatorenal toxicity: insights from network pharmacology and in vivo experimentation.BMC pharmacology & toxicology · 2025Article
- Optogenetic restoration of high-sensitivity vision using ChRmine- and ChroME-based channelrhodopsins.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Lack of evidence for a consistent differential impact of tail and tunnel handling on markers of welfare in laboratory mice.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Temporal context-guided memory capabilities in rodents.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Endothelial and neuronal engagement by AAV-BR1 gene therapy alleviates neurological symptoms and lipid deposition in a mouse model of Niemann-Pick type C2.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2025Article
23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Handling can stimulate stress and anxiety in laboratory animals that negatively impacts welfare and introduces a confounding factor in many areas of research. Picking up mice by the tail is a major source of handling stress that results in strong aversion to the handler, while mice familiarised with being picked up in a tunnel or cupped on the open hand show low stress and anxiety, and actively seek interaction with their handlers. Here we investigate the duration and frequency of handling required for effective familiarisation with these non-aversive handling methods, and test whether this is sufficient to prevent aversion and anxiety when animals then experience immobilisation and a mild procedure (subcutaneous injection). Very brief handling (2 s) was sufficient to familiarise mice with tunnel handling, even when experienced only during cage cleaning. Brief but more frequent handling was needed for familiarisation with cup handling, while pick up by tail induced strong aversion even when handling was brief and infrequent. Experience of repeated immobilisation and subcutaneous injection did not reverse the positive effects of tunnel handling. Our findings demonstrate that replacing tail with tunnel handling during routine cage cleaning and procedures provides a major refinement with little if any cost for familiarisation.
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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.