INVESTIGADORES
PONZIO Marina Flavia
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Laboratory Animal Science BioConference Live 2014
Autor/es:
PONZIO MF
Lugar:
-
Reunión:
Conferencia; LAS Biocoference Live 2014; 2014
Institución organizadora:
LabRoots
Resumen:
Although a growing body of evidence indicates that
environmental enrichment (EE) facilitates normal development and behaviour in
laboratory mice, few studies have been conducted to demonstrate its impact upon
male and female reproductive physiology.
In the present study we investigated the
effects of PVC tubular devices and shredded paper as physical enrichment on reproductive
physiology and postnatal development of laboratory mice.
Animals were allocated in regular housing
cages in groups of five individuals, and treated as non-enriched (control, C) or
enriched from weaning to adulthood (E).
In males, parameters evaluated were body,
testicular and accessory glands weight, sperm quality (motility, viability,
acrosome and membrane integrity), testosterone concentration, in vivo fertilization rates and litter
size.
In females, parameters assessed included
body, uterine and ovary weight, spontaneous ovulation, estradiol concentration,
pregnancy percentages and litter size.
Also, at postnatal day 1 litter was
reduced to 8 pups (4 males and 4 females) and their neurobiological
(cliff avoidance, negative geotaxis, surface righting reflex), physical (body
weight evolution, bilateral pinna detachment, low incisor eruption and eyes
opening) and reproductive development (testicular descent, balano-prepucial separation
and vaginal opening) was assessed. A second group of
C females was enriched from day 1 of pregnancy to discriminate the mothers
ability to breed their offspring (EP).
A higher number of pups were born from
enriched mothers (Mean±SEM; C: 9.5±0.6,
n=4; E: 10.7±0.2, n=5; EP: 12.2±0.7, n=5; p=0.03
E and EP vs. C). As well, a strong tendency was detected towards a faster physical
and reproductive development of pups born from E and EP mothers, yet
significant differences were only observed for testicular descent (day 19, C:
0±0%, n=16; E: 62.5±12.5%, n=17; EP: 21.6±9.7%, n=21; p=0.002).
In conclusion, in this strain of mice an
increased environmental complexity showed limited effects upon reproductive
physiology and postnatal development.