| Popis: |
For experiments on laboratory animals a natural phenotype free of stereotypic behavior is preferable to generate meaningful, comparable and reproducible data. Laboratory animal housing is usually thoroughly standardized to minimize external influences on the animal. In order to promote species-specific behaviors, environmental enrichment (EE) can be utilized. To take maximum advantage of EE, in this study a large home cage with a semi natural environment is used to keep a group of 20 female C57Bl/6J mice. The position of the animals is recorded continuously using 27 RFID antennas. This data is used to calculate the activity and spatial preferences in the cage. In addition to activity of the animals, spontaneous behavior, body weight, metabolic rate and musculoskeletal parameters are used to examine individual differences emerging within the group. |
