| Title: | A co-housing strategy to improve fecundity of mice in timed matings |
| Author(s): | Stiles RJ; Schrum AG; Gil D; |
| Address: | "Department of Immunology, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1548-4475 (Electronic) 0093-7355 (Print) 0093-7355 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Timed matings of mice are often carried out to obtain offspring of a precise age when required for a study. Timed matings involve housing male and female mice together for a limited time period, typically overnight. A limitation of this practice is that many mouse pairs fail to mate during the brief co-housing period. The authors co-housed each breeding pair in the same cage but separated by a transparent partition for 3 d before carrying out timed matings. This co-housing strategy resulted in increased copulation during the timed mating period and also significantly increased the average number of pups produced per breeding pair. The authors suggest that co-housing likely permits male urine-borne pheromones to induce female estrus and also enables the expression of male and female mating behaviors" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Breeding/*methods Female Fertility/*physiology *Housing, Animal Laboratory Animal Science Litter Size Male Mice Mice, Inbred C57BL Sexual Behavior, Animal/*physiology Time Factors;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineStiles, Robert J Schrum, Adam G Gil, Diana eng R56 AI097187/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2013/01/24 Lab Anim (NY). 2013 Feb; 42(2):62-5. doi: 10.1038/laban.161" |
