Environmental enrichment and exercise housing protocols for mice

Chloe J Love; Carolina Gubert; Thibault Renoir; Anthony J Hannan

doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101689

Environmental enrichment and exercise housing protocols for mice

STAR Protoc. 2022 Dec 16;3(4):101689. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101689. Epub 2022 Sep 19.

Authors

Chloe J Love¹, Carolina Gubert², Thibault Renoir¹, Anthony J Hannan³

Affiliations

¹ Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia.
² Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia. Electronic address: carolina.gubert@florey.edu.au.
³ Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; Department of Anatomy and Physiology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia. Electronic address: anthony.hannan@florey.edu.au.

Abstract

Here, we present a protocol that allows comparison of the effects of the standard home cage, environmentally enriched home cage with additional super-enrichment, and the exercise (running wheels only) home cage in laboratory mice. We first describe the steps to assemble these three types of cages, respectively. We then detail the assembly of super-enrichment arenas, which provide additional stimulation beyond that provided by home-cage enrichment. This protocol can help to improve reproducibility of results from studies involving environmental enrichment and exercise by offering consistent housing conditions between laboratories. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Gubert et al. (2021).

Keywords: Behavior; Health Sciences; Model Organisms; Neuroscience; Systems biology.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Housing, Animal*
Mice
Reproducibility of Results