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A co-housing strategy to improve fecundity of mice in timed matings

Lab Animal volume 42, pages 62–65 (2013)Cite this article

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.

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Figure 1: Transparent acrylic cage partition.
Figure 2: Presence of vaginal plugs after timed matings with prior partitioned co-housing or with no prior co-housing.
Figure 3: Litter production after timed matings with prior partitioned co-housing or with no prior co-housing.
Figure 4: Number of pups produced per breeding pair after timed matings with prior partitioned co-housing or with no prior co-housing.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Michael T. Klennery in Mayo Clinic's Biomechanical Shop for designing and fabricating the transparent cage partitions and Laurie R. Severson for overseeing the testing data for sentinel mice. This work was funded by Mayo Foundation (A.G.S. and D.G.) and by a grant from National Institutes of Health (D.G.).

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  1. Department of Immunology, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA

    Robert J. Stiles,  Adam G. Schrum &  Diana Gil

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  1. Robert J. Stiles
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Correspondence to Diana Gil.

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Stiles, R., Schrum, A. & Gil, D. A co-housing strategy to improve fecundity of mice in timed matings. Lab Anim 42, 62–65 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban.161

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