ArticleCommunications biology2024
Proper micro-environment alleviates mortality in laboratory mouse breeding induced by litter overlap and older dams.
Article in Communications biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 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.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Metformin Mitigates the Impact of Arsenic Exposure on the Maternal and Offspring Reproductive System of Female Mice.Biological trace element research · 2025Article
- Vocalisations as a potential indicator of parturition in C57BL/6J mice.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2025Article
- Proper micro-environment alleviates mortality in laboratory mouse breeding induced by litter overlap and older dams.Communications biology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The ongoing worldwide effort to reduce animal numbers in research often omits the issue of pre-weaning mortality in mouse breeding. A conservative estimate of 20% mortality would mean approximately 1.1 M mice die annually in the EU before scientific use. We hypothesize that pre-weaning mortality in laboratory mouse breeding is associated with cage social and macro/micro-environment conditions. Here we count pups from 509 C57BL/6J litters daily for accurate detection of mortality, and monitor cage micro-environment for 172 C57BL/6J litters. Probability of pups to die increases with the increase in dam age, number and age of older pups in the cage (of overlapped/cohabitating litters), and in small (<6 pups) and large (>11 pups) focal litters. Higher temperatures (>23.6 °C) and nest scores (>3.75) compensate for some of the socially-associated risks for pup death. These findings can be implemented in strategies for reducing pre-weaning mouse mortality, a more welfare-friendly and sustainable approach for science.
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Registered trials
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