Fig. 1: Changes in body weight of mice housed in MCs under different conditions.
From: Thermoneutral environment improves mouse welfare and reduces stress in metabolic cages
a,b, Relative body weight (BW) of males (a) and females (b) normalized to initial body weight at the start of MC housing (mean + s.d.). c,d, Relative food (c) and water intake (d), respectively, normalized to body weight during the sampling day of the MC housing period (day 4) (mean ± s.d.). Statistics were performed with two-way ANOVA followed by Šídák’s multiple comparison test (the P values are indicated in the graphs). e,f, Total daily collected feces (e) and urine (f) normalized to body weight (mean + s.d.) For the accMC23 group, only the sampling day (day 4) of MC housing was considered. Single-housed mice were either continuously kept in MCs at 23 °C for 4 days (MC23, blue, n = 6 female (♀) + 6 male (♂)), acclimatized for 3 h per day until day 4 (accMC23, orange, n = 5♀ + 6♂) or provided with a nest (nest-MC23, green, n = 6♀ + 6♂). Another group was housed in a thermoneutral environment in the MC at 30 °C (MC30, red, n = 6♀ + 6♂). The experiment was conducted in ten batches depending on animal availability and groups.
