ABSTRACT
Welfare and characterization of genetically modified mice
Rikke Thon1 and Inger Marie Jegstrup2
1 M&B A/S, DK-4623 Lille Skensved, Denmark & 2Biomedical Laboratory, University of Southern Denmark, DK-5000 Odense. Denmark.
An increasing number of genetically modified mice are being used for scientific purposes. Some of these animals have phenotypes deviating from the wildtype coursing welfare implications. The obvious lack of experience with/knowledge about the phenotypes of these modified strains and in some cases insufficient official regulation of this field is the incentive of this presentation.
It has been shown (M. van der Meer et al., 2001, Physiol. Behav., 73, (1-2) and (5)) that both transgenic procedures and gene targeting per se result in minor implications only i.e. increased body weight and hermaphroditism. However, a long list of conditions compromising the welfare of especially genetically modified disease models can be drawn. This includes diabetes, seizures, malformation, nephropathy, rectal prolapse, ataxia, lymphoma, osteoporosis, cystic fibrosis, defiencies of the immune responce and others (R. Thon et al., 2002, Scand. J. Lab. Anim. Sci., 29).
When strains suffer conditions leading to welfare implications according to the animal welfare legislation we must address this but sometimes it is difficult to identify the animals in need of special care. To thoroughly investigate the state of an animal from a welfare point of view several procedures for characterization have been developed. They vary markedly as to the parameters in focus and the extent to which they go into details. An ethical scheme addressing justification of use, scientific relevance, animal suffering and data related to production of the animals has been suggested (V. Delpire et al., 1999, ATLA, 27). 'SHIRPA' is a comprehensive neuro-behavioral assessment on adult mice devided into three screens. It is an observational test and scores are given for the parameters tested (D. C. Rogers et al., 1997, Mam. Genom., 8) and a pre-weaning test based on observations like survival, food intake, development and abnormalities in pups until 5 weeks of age registered in score sheets has been described (M. van der Meer et al., 2001, Lab. Anim., 35).
Characterization of genetically modified animals can also be obtained commercially. 'Frimorfo' is a Swiss company offering this service. The characterization is mainly based on morphology but development and behavior is also included.
These procedures are very different and probably none of them cover all the aspects of interest to a scientist using a genetically modified animal for experiments. For this reason it is suggested that a common recommendation for characterization is developed. The result of the characterization should furthermore be made accessable to other scientists.