Evaluation of Infrared Thermography for Temperature Measurement in Adult Male NMRI Nude Mice.

Abstract

Temperature monitoring during critical care provides important data required to guide treatment delivery. Body temperatureis an easily quantified clinical parameter that can yield much information concerning the health of an animal. In researchsettings, temperature has been adopted as a means to judge humane endpoints. Therefore, reliable, noninvasive, and inexpensivemethods for temperature monitoring are becoming a necessity in research laboratories. This study aimed to determinethe accuracy and agreement of using an infrared camera as an alternative method of temperature measurement in mice andto compare the accuracy of this noninvasive method with established subcutaneous, intraperitoneal, and rectal techniques.Measurement of body-surface temperature by using an infrared camera was compared with these 3 established methods inmale NMRI nude mice (n = 10; age, 10 mo); data were obtained 3 times daily over 14 d. Subcutaneous temperatures weremeasured remotely by using a previously implanted subcutaneous temperature transponder, after which temperature wasmeasured by using noncontact infrared thermometry and a rectal probe. Measurements from intraperitoneal data loggers wereobtained retrospectively. The data show that using an infrared camera provides a simple, reliable method for measuring bodytemperature in male NMRI nu/nu mice that minimizes handling and is minimally invasive. Whether infrared thermometry is a useful method for measuring body temperature in furred mice warrants further investigation.