Items to be considered about characterisation of the animals, in collaboration with the supplier, include:
- Species, strain, line and phenotype (with an explanation of any genetic modifications)
- Age, developmental stage, sex and weight
- Stage of oestrous cycle and any previous breeding history
- Any necessary pre-treatment (e.g. castration or ovariectomy) and those responsible for this
- Name and address of the supplier/breeder, or, if wild-caught, the place, time and method of capture and transport
- Health status (e.g. germ-free, gnotobiotic, SPF, conventional, vaccination status)
- Re-use of animals, which should be justified and which may be regulated by national legislation
- Any plans for release or re-homing, which may be regulated by national legislation
- Breeding and colony management (NC3Rs)
The Norecopa website has also separate sections with more resources for
Sharing animal tissue
Collaboration with other internal or external laboratories should be considered, to reduce the number of animals needed. Here are some resources:
- AniMatch
- Anishare (open source web-based software) - see also abstract S2E1.1 from FELASA 2022
- The Otlet database (biological research samples)
- The SEARCH Framework (Morrissey et al., 2017)
- Shared Ageing Research Models (ShARM)
- NERD (Neuro Ecological Research Denmark) - no longer available
- ATEX (animal and tissue exchange platform at Utrecht University)
- The Munich MIDY Pig Biobank
- SEARCHBreast (breast cancer models) (blog)
- MiTO (Models in Translational Oncology)
- BrainBits® (rat and mouse tissue and cells)
- The EUPRIM-Net Project biobanks (non-human primate tissue, serum and blood; gene bank)
- BPRC (Biomedical Primate Research Centre) Biobank of non-human primate tissue
- University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Tissue Sharing Program
- University of Zurich Laboratory Animal Services Center Animal Sharing Pool
- Examples of University protocols: Minnesota; USF; Indiana; Wayne State
Guidance on sharing
- Recommendations from an expert working group on the sharing and archiving of material from genetically altered mice
- Importing genetically altered animals: ensuring quality (Birling et al., 2021)
Part of the planning process should be to evaluate whether human tissue can be used instead of animal material.
Information on a large number of textbooks that describe the species and strains used in animal research is available in the TextBase database on this site. Examples include The Laboratory Mouse, The Laboratory Rat and The Laboratory Fish.
Use of both sexes in experiments
- Advice from the NC3Rs
- Developing the evidence-base to form policy on inclusive research design (Child et al., 2025)
- Sex bias in preclinical research and an exploration of how to how to change the status quo (Karp & Reavey, 2018)
- Gonadal sex and animal experimentation: Perfection vs. 3R principle? (Bie & Debrabant, 2020)
- Prevalence of sexual dimorphism in mammalian phenotypic traits (Karp et al., 2017)
- Considering sex as a biological variable in preclinical research (Miller et al., 2017)
- NIH website on Methods and Techniques for Integrating Sex into Research
- Study reveals how sex 'blindspot' could misdirect medical research (article from the Wellcome Sanger Institute)
- Beery & Zucker (2011): Sex bias in neuroscience and biomedical research
More resources
- FELASA Guidance on the Use of Genetically Altered Animals in the context of Directive 2010/63/EU
- OBSERVE: guidelines for refinement of rodent cancer models (De Vleeschauwer et al., 2024)
- Biological Characteristics of Age-related Changes in C57BL/6 Mice Sub-strains in the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology Aging Farm (Ogiso et al., 2024)
- The Laboratory Animal Genetic Reporting (LAG-R) guidelines
- Animal Models in Research: Principles and Practice (Eds. Sreelatha et al., 2024)
- Best practice for transport of research animals
- Examples and references from ARRIVE 2.0
- Laboratory Mouse and Rat Colony Management (Guidebook from Charles River)
- Common Laboratory Mouse Strains: A Beginner's Guide (a course in Spanish and English from the Jackson Laboratory).
- Justification for species selection for pharmaceutical toxicity studies (Prior et al., 2020)
- Sourcebook of Models for Biomedical Research
- Information on inbred strains of mice and rats
- Puberty onset curve in CD (Sprague Dawley) and Long Evans outbred male rats (Fuochi et al., 2022)
- Automated classification of estrous stage in rodents using deep learning (Wolcott et al., 2022)
- What is a normal phenotype of aging mice? (blog from Catherine Hagan, Jackson Laboratory)
- Publications relevant for specific mouse and rats strains (collections by Envigo)
- Strategies to minimise genetic drift and maximise experimental reproducibility in mouse research
- Resources about gnotobiotic and axenic mice from INFRAFRONTIER (mouse disease models)
- Optimizing PCR for Mouse Genotyping: Recommendations for Reliable, Rapid, Cost Effective, Robust and Adaptable to High-Throughput Genotyping Protocol for Any Type of Mutation (Jacquot et al., 2019)
- Mouse Locator, UK
- The Collaborative Cross panel of inbred mouse strains
- Nude mice - more than what meets the eye
- The Rat Guide
- Rat Behavior and Biology
- Ratbehavior.org
- The Macaque website
- Does age matter? The impact of rodent age on study outcomes
- Improving the welfare of mice used in the study of ageing (IAT workshop report, 2021)
- Progressing the care, husbandry and management of ageing mice used in scientific studies (Wilkinson et al., 2019)
- Know thy mice: Variability in aged mice
- A mouse is not just a mouse (Sluyter & Van Oortmerssen, 2000)
- Laboratory Codes in Nomenclature and Scientific Communication (Advancing Organism Nomenclature in Scientific Communication to Improve Research Reporting and Reproducibility) (Brayton, 2022)
- Genetic enhancement of NSG and NRG mice for improved human disease modelling
- Special issue of the journal Animals with papers on animal emotion
- Report of the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations Working Group on animal identification (2013)
- Welfare and scientific considerations of tattooing and ear tagging for mouse identification (Roughan et al., 2019)
- Refinements of identification of wildlife, including biometric methods and machine learning
- Non-invasive genetic sampling of animals
- Non-invasive methods of stress determination
- Non-invasive dietary analysis
- A standardised framework to identify optimal animal models for efficacy assessment in drug development (Ferreira et al., 2019)
- Identification methods in newborn C57BL/6 mice: a developmental and behavioural evaluation (Castelhano-Carlos et al., 2010)
- Tickling rats for improved welfare
- Know Your Model: how essential is that essential gene?
- Charles River guide to strategies to minimise genetic drift and maximise experimental reproducibility in mouse research
- Janvier Labs webpage giving advice on customised strategies to breed and secure an animal model
- Know your Model: Why mouse inbred strain contribution matters (Perry et al., 2020)
- Refining rodent models of spinal cord injury (Lilley et al., 2020)
- Malocclusion in mice
- Science Base for minipigs, compiled by Ellegaard Minipigs
- Veterinary medical care in rodent models of stroke: Pitfalls and refinements to balance quality of science and animal welfare (Gargiulo et al., 2025)
- Comparison of Large Animal Models for Acute Ischemic Stroke: Which Model to Use? (Taha et al., 2022)
- Historical control data (maternal, foetal and embryo) from Sprague-Dawley rats for DART (Development And Reproductive Toxicology) studies
- A neuroscientist's guide to using murine brain atlases for efficient analysis and transparent reporting (Kleven et al., 2023)
- Avoiding mortality in animal research and testing (RSPCA/LASA/LAVA/IAT Report, 2018)