背景:传统上,在生物医学动物研究中,实验室啮齿动物在选定的时间点在其家庭笼子外的测试设备中单独检查。然而,这些测试的结果可能受到各种因素的影响,并且当只对动物进行短期监测时,可能会错过有价值的信息。这些问题可以通过在其家庭笼子中纵向监测小鼠和大鼠来克服。为了阐明家庭笼子监控(HCM)的发展和当前的最新技术,对通过PubMed和WebofScience检索的521种出版物进行了系统评价.
结果:从1974年到2020年,与HCM相关的出版物的绝对(〜×26)和相对(〜×7)数量均增加。对雄性和单独饲养的动物有明显的偏见,但在过去十年(2011-2020年),越来越多的研究同时使用性别和群体住房。在大多数研究中,动物在HCM系统中饲养时间较短(长达4周);在2011年至2020年期间,中间时间段(4-12周)的频率增加.在2000年之前,HCM技术主要应用不到12小时,而24小时测量自2000年代以来更加频繁。系统审查表明,与自动技术相关的手动监控正在减少,但仍然相关。直到(包括)1990年代,大多数技术都是手动应用的,但自2000年代以来已逐渐被自动化所取代。独立于出版之年,测量的主要行为参数是运动活动,喂养,和社会行为;主要生理参数为心率和心电图。很少在家庭笼子中检查与外观相关的参数。由于人工智能的技术进步和应用,更精细和详细的行为参数已经在家庭笼子最近进行了调查。
结论:在本研究期间,小鼠和大鼠的HCM技术有了很大改善。此开发正在进行中,进一步的进展以及HCM系统的验证将扩展应用程序,以允许连续,纵向,非侵入性监测家庭笼中群居的小型啮齿动物参数范围的增加。
Traditionally, in biomedical animal research, laboratory rodents are individually examined in test apparatuses outside of their home cages at selected time points. However, the outcome of such tests can be influenced by various factors and valuable information may be missed when the animals are only monitored for short periods. These issues can be overcome by longitudinally monitoring mice and rats in their home cages. To shed light on the development of home cage monitoring (HCM) and the current state-of-the-art, a systematic review was carried out on 521 publications retrieved through PubMed and Web of Science.
Both the absolute (~ × 26) and relative (~ × 7) number of HCM-related publications increased from 1974 to 2020. There was a clear bias towards males and individually housed animals, but during the past decade (2011-2020), an increasing number of studies used both sexes and group housing. In most studies, animals were kept for short (up to 4 weeks) time periods in the HCM systems; intermediate time periods (4-12 weeks) increased in frequency in the years between 2011 and 2020. Before the 2000s, HCM techniques were predominantly applied for less than 12 h, while 24-h measurements have been more frequent since the 2000s. The systematic review demonstrated that manual monitoring is decreasing in relation to automatic techniques but still relevant. Until (and including) the 1990s, most techniques were applied manually but have been progressively replaced by automation since the 2000s. Independent of the year of publication, the main behavioral parameters measured were locomotor activity, feeding, and social behaviors; the main physiological parameters were heart rate and electrocardiography. External appearance-related parameters were rarely examined in the home cages. Due to technological progress and application of artificial intelligence, more refined and detailed behavioral parameters have been investigated in the home cage more recently.
Over the period covered in this study, techniques for HCM of mice and rats have improved considerably. This development is ongoing and further progress as well as validation of HCM systems will extend the applications to allow for continuous, longitudinal, non-invasive monitoring of an increasing range of parameters in group-housed small rodents in their home cages.