Plastic cages

Throughout these studies, adult female Sprague-Dawley rats weighing about 250 gm were used. During experimentation, they were housed in individual plastic cages. Purina Rat Chow and water were available a d 1 i hi turn. and they were maintained under an automated light cycle with illumination from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. 

The cages should meet the latest international recommendations (2). Typically solid bottomed plastic cages with metal grid lids are used. The rats are given autoclaved sawdust as bedding (including during cohabitation). 

Animals Randomly bred 8-10-wk-old male Swiss mice of 20 + 2 g average weight. The animals are kept in plastic cages and given pellet diet (Hindustan Lever Ltd., India) and water ad libitum. 

For the study of the sexual activation of males, they were maintained for three days individually in standard plastic cages. A day before the start of the experiment, they were placed one at a time into one section of a plastic cage (25 x 25 x 15 cm). At the time of the experiment an estrous female of M. m. musculus, M. spicilegus or Clethrionomys ruti-... 

We selected CBA/J mice as test subjects because, of the 28 inbred strains of mice that were tested, members of this strain proved to be the most sensitive to the boar sex-pheromone, androstenone (5 -androst-16-en-3-one Voznessenskaya, Parfyonova Wysocki., 1995). For comparison, results of tests with NZB/BINJ mice were made (these mice were selected because they were among the many lines that were insensitive to androstenone). Animals were kept under standard vivarium conditions, e.g., 12 12 light.dark cycle, with controlled temperature (typically 25°C) and humidity, in plastic cages, one animal per cage. Tests were performed both in Philadelphia, at the Monell Center, and in Moscow, at the A.N. Severtzov Institute of Ecology Evolution. Behavioral and biochemical analyses were undertaken to evaluate the effects of exposure to androstenone on threshold sensitivity to androstenone and potential biochemical correlates within the olfactory and vomeronasal sensory epithelia. 

A more convenient means of media comparison, whilst still retaining some of the above practical elements, is described by Anand et al. In this procedure, a single sleeve of smaller size is mounted on a plastic cage and located in a clear Perspex cylindrical enclosure. A quantity of dust is added and this is then transformed into a cloud by means of compressed air injected at the base of the unit. The dust-laden air is drawn onto the surface of the sleeve and the subsequent pressure differential monitored by computer. Any particle emissions through the fabric are captured by an ultrafilter and measured gravimetricaUy. Once again, the gas velocity, cleaning frequency, pulse pressure, and pulse duration can be adjusted and, by virtue of the clear Perspex cylinder, the effects of these can be visually observed. 

The pine voles used in these experiments were 1st through 4th generation laboratory descendants of wild voles trapped in 1982 and 1983 in apple orchards in Henderson County, North Carolina. Breeding pairs and their offspring were maintained in 36 x 30 x 18-cm plastic cages containing peat moss substrate and fitted with wire lids. Stud males were at least 120 days of age and were individually housed Water and Wayne Lab Blox were available ad libitum a slice of apple, 3-5 g sunflower... 

Rutledge and Gupta referred to the isolated cells of the K D module design as the no-choice test module and advocated that test systems should be designed, or redesigned, to function in the no-choice mode to provide results with less variability. Furthermore, in contrast with the Standard E951-8 plastic cage, which was positioned on the forearm of a volunteer and permitted two replicates... 

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