J Am Assoc Lab Anim
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J Am Assoc Lab Anim · Mar 2018
Out Like a Light? The Effects of a Diurnal Husbandry Schedule on Mouse Sleep and Behavior.
Sleep disruption in humans, caused by shift work, can be detrimental to physical and behavioral health. Nocturnal laboratory mice may experience a similar disruption caused by human daytime activities, but whether this disruption affects their welfare is unknown. We used 48 mice (CD1, C57BL/6, and BALB/c of both sexes) in a factorial design to test a sleep disruption treatment, in which mice were disturbed by providing routine husbandry at either 1000 or 2200 during a 12:12-h light:dark cycle, with lights on at 0700. ⋯ These results suggest that disturbance timing affects sleep patterns in mice but not their overall amount of sleep and that the changes in sleep patterns vary between mouse type and sex. In addition, mice appear to both anticipate and acclimate to human activity during the day. Our welfare checks were possibly too predictable and inconsequential to induce true sleep disruption.