Blood samples were taken from two rats per cage (one rat with and one without a temperature logger), according to a randomized schedule with the same distribution over the animals

Blood samples were taken from two rats per cage (one rat with and one without a temperature logger), according to a randomized schedule with the same distribution over the animals. glucose levels, body weight, behavior and water and food intake before, during and after transfer in Wistar rats. Decreased body weight, water and food intake were noticed on the day of transfer in rats. Environmental temperature strongly affected body temperature of rats and needs to be controlled. Male rats need to habituate for at least one week, females for two Sulbutiamine weeks after transfer. Keywords: transportation, transfer, body temperature, ambient temperature, glucose, corticosterone, behavior, Thermochron iButton, rats == 1 . Introduction == The transfer of laboratory animals from the breeding facility to research facilities embraces a variety of challenges intended for the animals, such as physiological and social stress due to handling, with new seems and smells, fluctuations in temperature and humidity, disruption of light-dark cycle, separation from cage mates, and new caretakers [1, 2]. Such stressors lead to activation from the hypophysal-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis, promoting secretion of corticosterone and production of glucose (for review see [3]). Several studies on transportation of rodents report an increase in plasma corticosterone [2, 4, 5, 6, 7] and plasma glucose levels [8], as well as Sulbutiamine disrupted behavior [2, 6, 9], though occasionally a decrease in corticosterone and glucose levels in transported rats have been found [10]. Also, decreased heart rate, blood pressure, and body weight have been related to the process of transportation in rodents [2, 9, 11] and a decrease in glucose levels was detected in rabbits transported to the slaughter house [12]. Heat stress has been reported to constitute the most frequently occurring cause of death in transported animals and thus might be considered as one of the major stressors during transfer [13]. A previous study on transport in rats showed highly variable temperatures in transportation boxes [14]. During a pilot study with mice at Harlan Laboratories BV (The Netherlands), the peak temperature inside the transportation box was found to exceed 30 C [15]. Syversenet al. (2008) for example found fluctuations in temperature of 11 C during air transfer in more than 60% of shipments [16]. It is known that stress-induced-hyperthermia and ambient temperature (Ta) affect body temperature (Tb) [17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22]. Results of studies measuring Tbbefore and after transfer, however , are inconsistent: Capdevillaet al. (2007) [11] found no effect of transfer of rats on Tb, while Dallmanet al. (2006) [23] observed an increase in Tbof rats when moving a cage within the same room or to another room, respectively. Stemkens-Stevenset al. (2009) transported guinea pigs for a shorter or longer period, respectively, which resulted in a decreased Tbin both conditions [9]. Changes in Tbhave been shown to affect physiological parameters [24, 25, 26], metabolism and behavior [19], and plasma corticosterone and glucose [27]. In laboratory animal vivaria either a constant temperature within the rats thermal neutral zone is used or suitable cage enrichment is supplied in order to give the animals the opportunity of self-regulating their environmental temperature. Neither a constant temperature, nor cage enrichment is present during transfer. It is to be expected that fluctuations in Taduring transfer will modulate Tbin laboratory animals during and after transfer, and that transfer stress in combination with ambient temperature fluctuations may result in either hypo- or hyperthermia in transported animals. Both short termed modulation in ambient temperature and potential hyperthermia may constitute a serious challenge intended for the adaptive capacities intended for animals that are being transferred from a breeder to a research facility. Before transfer, animals are housed in stable environmental conditions, which are optimized for temperature, humidity, and air composition. During transfer, animals can experience temperatures that fluctuate and deviate from the temperatures they are used to, and after transfer animals need to adapt to new standard conditions. In this study, we measured Taand Tband their interaction Sulbutiamine before, during, and after transfer to elucidate the animals responses to such temperature challenges, which no other study offers measured so far. How temperature affects the animal during and after Sulbutiamine transfer was TRUNDD measured biochemically, by plasma corticosterone and glucose. The transfer of research animals withholds a multitude of procedures, which results in a multifactorial stressor that can hardly be disentangled. Therefore , the transfer procedure as referred to in our studies embraces weighing and packing from the animals, multiple movements of.