Sex difference in thermal preference of adult mice does not depend on presence of the gonads.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kaikaew K
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5504804 | biostudies-other | 2017 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:Animal models have been used extensively in in vivo studies, especially within the biomedical field. Traditionally, single-sex studies, mostly males, are used to avoid any potential confounding variation caused by sex difference and the female estrous cycle. Historically, female animal subjects are believed to exhibit higher variability, and this could increase the statistical power needed to test a hypothesis. This study sets out to evaluate whether a sex difference does exist in mouse behavior, and whether female mice featured higher variability. We assessed the sensorimotor skills, anxiety-like behavior, depression-like behavior, and cognitive abilities of mice through a series of commonly used behavioral tests. Except for the stronger grip force and lower tactile sensory sensitivity detected in male mice, there was no significant difference between males and females in other tests. Furthermore, immunolabeling of neurogenesis markers suggested no significant difference between sexes in adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Within group variances were equivalent; females did not exhibit higher variability than males. However, the overall negative results could be due to the limitation of small sample size. In conclusion, our study provides evidence that sex difference in mice does not significantly influence these commonly used behavioral tests nor adult neurogenesis under basal conditions. We suggest that female mice could also be considered for test inclusion in future experiment design.
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Project description:ObjectiveTo improve understanding of mouse energy homeostasis and its applicability to humans, we quantitated the effects of housing density on mouse thermal physiology in both sexes.MethodsLittermate wild type and Brs3-null mice were single- or group- (three per cage) housed and studied by indirect calorimetry with continuous measurement of core body temperature, energy expenditure, physical activity, and food intake.ResultsAt 23 °C, below thermoneutrality, single-housed males had a lower body temperature and unchanged metabolic rate compared to group-housed controls. In contrast, single-housed females maintained a similar body temperature to group-housed controls by increasing their metabolic rate. With decreasing ambient temperature below 27 °C, only group-housed mice decreased their heat conductance, likely due to huddling, thus interfering with the energy expenditure vs ambient temperature relationship described by Scholander. In a hot environment (35 °C), the single-housed mice were less heat stressed. Upon fasting, single-housed mice had larger reductions in body temperature, with male mice having more torpor episodes of similar duration and female mice having a similar number of torpor episodes that lasted longer. Qualitatively, the effects of housing density on thermal physiology of Brs3-null mice generally mimicked the effects in controls.ConclusionsSingle housing is more sensitive than group housing for detecting thermal physiology phenotypes. Single housing increases heat loss and amplifies the effects of fasting or a cold environment. Male and female mice utilize different thermoregulatory strategies to respond to single housing.
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