Phenotypic variability between Social Dominance Ranks in laboratory mice.

ABSTRACT: The laboratory mouse is the most prevalent animal used in experimental procedures in the biomedical and behavioural sciences. Yet, many scientists fail to consider the animals' social context. Within a cage, mice may differ in their behaviour and physiology depending on their dominance relationships. Therefore, dominance relationships may be a confounding factor in animal experiments. The current study housed male and female C57BL/6ByJ mice in same-sex groups of 5 in standard laboratory conditions and investigated whether dominance hierarchies were present and stable across three weeks, and whether mice of different dominance ranks varied consistently in behaviour and physiology. We found that dominance ranks of most mice changed with time, but were most stable between the 2^nd a

SUBMITTER: Varholick JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5920077 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature