Monitoring System for Laboratory Mice Transportation: A Novel Concept for the Measurement of Physiological and Environmental Parameters

Carlos González-Sánchez,Ellen Damm,Jochen G Schneider,Frank R Ihmig,Javier Pérez-Turiel,Juan-Carlos Fraile,Daniel Schmitt

doi:10.3390/electronics8010034

Abstract

Laboratory mice are used in biomedical research as “models” for studying human disease. These mice may be subject to significant levels of stress during transportation that can cause alterations that could negatively affect the results of the performed investigation. Here, we present the design and realization of a prototypical transportation container for laboratory mice, which may contribute to improved laboratory animal welfare. This prototype incorporates electric potential integrated circuit (EPIC) sensors, which have been shown to allow the recording of physiological parameters (heart rate and breathing rate) and other sensors for recording environmental parameters during mouse transportation. This allows for the estimation of the stress levels suffered by mice. First experimental results for capturing physiological and environmental parameters are shown and discussed.

Highlights

Animals are used in biomedical research as “models” for studying human biology and disease, and as test subjects for the development and testing of drugs and vaccines to improve human health, without putting the lives and safety of humans at risk.A moral code that minimizes the impact of research on animals is needed
This paper presents a new concept for a monitoring system for laboratory mouse transportation that incorporates a matrix of electric potential integrated circuit (EPIC) sensors for recording mouse physiological parameters (HR and breathing rate (BR)) and other sensors for recording environmental parameters
In order to select the sensors to power, we considered all different possible combinations.16There are are 16 EPIC sensors with two states (ON/OFF), so the total number of combinations is 2 = 65536

Summary

Introduction

Animals are used in biomedical research as “models” for studying human biology and disease, and as test subjects for the development and testing of drugs and vaccines to improve human health, without putting the lives and safety of humans at risk.A moral code that minimizes the impact of research on animals is needed. Animals are used in biomedical research as “models” for studying human biology and disease, and as test subjects for the development and testing of drugs and vaccines to improve human health, without putting the lives and safety of humans at risk. 2010/63/EU indicates that animal-welfare considerations should be given the highest priority in the context of animal keeping, breeding, and use [1]. The European Commission has created the “Platform on Animal Welfare” [2] to promote an enhanced dialogue on animal welfare issues that are relevant at the European Union level among competent authorities, businesses, civil society, and scientists. International animal welfare regulations [3,4] oblige the scientific community to improve the welfare of laboratory animals used in biomedical research. Animal ethics committees supervise the research to avoid animal suffering and the unethical behavior of researchers

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Results

Conclusion