The future of animal housing

The use of telemetry technology to measure cardiovascular parameters is a core principle during safety pharmacology studies. Most of these studies are performed with laboratory animals kept in single cages, which is a well-known stress factor. It has also been shown that group-housing has some beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system^1,2. Therefore, safety pharmacology strives to advance future studies from single to group house environments to stimulate safer drug development.  

A novel Stellar Telemetry implant with integrated micro-GPS functionality, of which its development and validation is the main objective of my PhD project, offers a new technology for researcher to analyse cardiovascular parameters and behavioural traits simultaneously in socially interacting animals, which has been neglected in safety pharmacology so far. This technology ensures the possibility to keep laboratory animals in groups, which reflects their natural habitat and thereby minimizes stress.  

Beyond the development of innovative technologies, TSE Systems designs group-housed environments in which such experiments can be performed and combined with automated behavioural phenotyping. The PhenoWorld (picture) is a new concept which raises animal housing and experimentation onto the next level by combining different measurement compartments with highly enriched living environments³. 

Future laboratory animal experiments performed in such multilayer quarters will contribute to elucidate possible improvements on animal welfare aspects and on data quality, which could – for example – lead to the development of new and safer drugs.  

References: 

1. Xing, G., Lu, J., Hu, M., Wang, S., Zhao, L., Zheng, W., ... & Skinner, M. (2015). Effects of group housing on ECG assessment in conscious cynomolgus monkeys. Journal of pharmacological and toxicological methods, 75, 44-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vascn.2015.05.004  
2. Späni, D., Arras, M., König, B., & Rülicke, T. (2003). Higher heart rate of laboratory mice housed individually vs in pairs. Laboratory animals, 37(1), 54-62. https://doi.org/10.1258/002367703762226692 
3. Castelhano-Carlos, M. J., Baumans, V., & Sousa, N. (2017). PhenoWorld: addressing animal welfare in a new paradigm to house and assess rat behaviour. Laboratory animals, 51(1), 36-43. https://doi.org/10.1177/0023677216638642