Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Protocol Review
  • Published:

Response to Protocol Review Scenario: Sampling method counts, too

Lab Animal volume 40, pages 174–175 (2011)Cite this article

Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines “restrain” as “to prevent from doing, to limit, restrict or keep under control”1. By that definition, this protocol does involve restraint, as the mouse's tail is secured to a table with tape. According to the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, “prolonged restraint should be avoided unless it is essential for achieving research objectives and is specifically approved by the IACUC... Systems that do not limit an animal's ability to make normal postural adjustments should be used when compatible with protocol objectives. When restraint devices are used, they should be specifically designed to accomplish research goals that are impossible or impractical to accomplish by other means or to prevent injury to animals or personnel”2. Taping the tail will allow the mouse to make most “normal postural adjustments”. In fact, The IACUC Handbook states “the need for prolonged physical restraint has been reduced by the development of harness and swivel devices that allow an animal some degree of movement”3. Therefore, the restraint method proposed would not meet the strict definition of prolonged restraint.

The question then becomes whether using this method is the most appropriate way to accomplish the sampling. Having worked with wild mice in the past, I can confirm that they become very agitated with repeated manual restraint. It would probably be more stressful for them to be captured in their cages multiple times than to be captured once and have their movements restricted for a 2-hour period. Multiple captures will likely increase blood glucose levels, providing unreliable results, as well as increase the likelihood of a technician being bitten. Staff members' safety should also be considered when approving procedures. I would strongly recommend that this IACUC approve this protocol only if the animals were going to be observed for the entire 2 hours of restraint. A mouse may become frustrated enough with its inability to escape that it begins to injure itself. I also suggest that it may calm the mouse to have a rodent retreat placed over it while it is restrained.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (G. & C. Merriam Company, Springfield, MA, 1977).

  2. Institute for Laboratory Animal Research. Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals 29 (National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2011).

  3. Silverman, J., Suckow, M.A. & Murthy, S. The IACUC Handbook 2nd edn. (CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Public Health Service. Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals Section IV,C,1,b (US Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC, 1986; amended 2002).

  5. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science. Laboratory Mouse Handbook 52 (AALAS, Memphis, TN, 2006).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Benz is Veterinary Medical Unit Supervisor at VA Western New York Healthcare System, Buffalo, NY.,

    Rebecca Benz

Authors
  1. Rebecca Benz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Benz, R. Response to Protocol Review Scenario: Sampling method counts, too. Lab Anim 40, 174–175 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0611-174b

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0611-174b

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing