Incorporating inter-individual variability in experimental design improves the quality of results of animal experiments.

Autor: van der Goot MH; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department Population Health Sciences, Section Animals in Science and Society, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands., Kooij M; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department Population Health Sciences, Section Animals in Science and Society, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands., Stolte S; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department Population Health Sciences, Section Animals in Science and Society, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands., Baars A; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department Population Health Sciences, Section Animals in Science and Society, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands., Arndt SS; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department Population Health Sciences, Section Animals in Science and Society, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands., van Lith HA; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department Population Health Sciences, Section Animals in Science and Society, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.; Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2021 Aug 05; Vol. 16 (8), pp. e0255521. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Aug 05 (Print Publication: 2021).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0255521
Abstrakt: Inter-individual variability in quantitative traits is believed to potentially inflate the quality of results in animal experimentation. Yet, to our knowledge this effect has not been empirically tested. Here we test whether inter-individual variability in emotional response within mouse inbred strains affects the outcome of a pharmacological experiment. Three mouse inbred strains (BALB/c, C57BL/6 and 129S2) were behaviorally characterized through repeated exposure to a mild aversive stimulus (modified Hole Board, five consecutive trials). A multivariate clustering procedure yielded two multidimensional response types which were displayed by individuals of all three strains. We show that systematic incorporation of these individual response types in the design of a pharmacological experiment produces different results from an experimental pool in which this variation was not accounted for. To our knowledge, this is the first study that empirically confirms that inter-individual variability affects the interpretation of behavioral phenotypes and may obscure experimental results in a pharmacological experiment.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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