In this review, the authors compare 28 freely available animal-tracking software applications, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the applications in the tracking pipeline, from video acquisition to trajectory generation and data analysis.

In this article, the authors evaluate the suitability and effectiveness of their micropipette-guided drug administration method as an alternative and non-invasive administration strategy for clozapine-N-oxide in chemogenetic studies using designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs.

Are your mouse colonies in the best state to resume experiments? A short commentary on some key issues to consider when moving forward.

The authors investigated the influence of housing density and bedding volume on ammonia build-up in two individually ventilated mouse cages models. While the amount of bedding had no influence on ammonia levels, smaller Type II individually ventilated cages accumulated higher ammonia levels than larger Type III individually ventilated cages, even at similar housing densities.

A mouse model to study norovirus pathogenesis is described. The murine norovirus strain WU23, originally isolated from an intestinal site, induces severe but self-resolving diarrhea in neonates, reflecting the pathology observed during human norovirus infection.

Tomsits and colleagues investigated the effects of medetomidine/midazolam/fentanyl and isoflurane/fentanyl narcosis on murine cardiac autonomic nervous activity and electrophysiology. The results show that, compared with medetomidine/midazolam/fentanyl narcosis, isoflurane/fentanyl narcosis seems to have no effect on cardiac autonomic nervous function and less influence on cardiac electrophysiology.

A large number of refinements have been studied with the aim to improve rat welfare, but more evidence is needed to fully understand their impact. This mapping review draws on the findings of 1,017 studies to show that different refinements impact different rats in different ways, and that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to refinements might not be appropriate.

Using behavioral assays, transcriptome analysis and viral approaches to manipulate gene expression in the mPFC, Zhang et al. identified an important role for early growth response 2 (Egr2/Krox-20) in the development of social and cooperative behaviors in mice.

A clinically relevant murine model of septic arthritis via direct inoculation of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus into the knee joint is described. This protocol details methods for serum, synovial fluid and knee joint tissue analysis that more closely mimic the workup of septic arthritis in human patients.