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@ARTICLE{Kroll:890936,
      author       = {Kroll, Tina and Kornadt-Beck, Nikola and Oskamp, Angela and
                      Elmenhorst, David and Touma, Chadi and Palme, Rupert and
                      Bauer, Andreas},
      title        = {{A}dditional {A}ssessment of {F}ecal {C}orticosterone
                      {M}etabolites {I}mproves {V}isual {R}ating in the
                      {E}valuation of {S}tress {R}esponses of {L}aboratory {R}ats},
      journal      = {Animals / Molecular Diversity Preservation International,
                      MDPI},
      volume       = {11},
      number       = {3},
      issn         = {2076-2615},
      address      = {Basel},
      publisher    = {MDPI},
      reportid     = {FZJ-2021-01258},
      pages        = {710 -},
      year         = {2021},
      abstract     = {Since animal experiments cannot be completely avoided, the
                      pain, suffering, and distress of laboratory animals must be
                      minimized. To this end, a major prerequisite is reliable
                      assessment of pain and distress. Usually, evaluation of
                      animal welfare is done by visual inspection and score
                      sheets. However, relatively little is known about whether
                      standardized, but subjective, score sheets are able to
                      reliably reflect the status of the animals. The current
                      study aimed to compare visual assessment scores and changes
                      in body weight with concentrations of fecal corticosterone
                      metabolites (FCMs) in a neuroscientific experimental setup.
                      Additionally, effects of refinement procedures were
                      investigated. Eight male adult Sprague-Dawley rats underwent
                      several experimental interventions, including
                      electroencephalograph electrode implantation and subsequent
                      recording, positron emission tomography (PET), and sleep
                      deprivation (SD) by motorized activity wheels. Additional 16
                      rats were either used as controls without any treatment or
                      to evaluate refinement strategies. Stress responses were
                      determined on a daily basis by means of measuring FCMs, body
                      weight, and evaluation of the animals’ welfare by
                      standardized score sheets. Surgery provoked a significant
                      elevation of FCM levels for up to five days. Increases in
                      FCMs due to PET procedures or SD in activity wheels were
                      also highly significant, while visual assessment scores did
                      not indicate elevated stress levels and body weights
                      remained constant. Visual assessment scores correlate with
                      neither changes in body weight nor increases in FCM levels.
                      Habituation procedures to activity wheels used for SD had no
                      impact on corticosterone release. Our results revealed that
                      actual score sheets for visual assessment of animal welfare
                      did not mirror physiological stress responses assessed by
                      FCM measurements. Moreover, small changes in body weight did
                      not correlate with FCM concentration either. In conclusion,
                      as visual assessment is a method allowing immediate
                      interventions on suffering animals to alleviate burden,
                      timely stress assessment in experimental rodents via score
                      sheets should be ideally complemented by validated objective
                      measures (e.g., fecal FCM measured by well-established
                      assays for reliable detection of FCMs). This will complete a
                      comprehensive appraisal of the animals’ welfare status in
                      a retrospective manner and refine stressor procedures in the
                      long run.},
      cin          = {INM-2},
      ddc          = {590},
      cid          = {I:(DE-Juel1)INM-2-20090406},
      pnm          = {5253 - Neuroimaging (POF4-525)},
      pid          = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-5253},
      typ          = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
      pubmed       = {33807941},
      UT           = {WOS:000633194800001},
      doi          = {10.3390/ani11030710},
      url          = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/890936},
}