Abou-Ismail, Usama and Burman, Oliver and Nicol, Christine and Mendl, Michael (2007) Can sleep behaviour be used as an indicator of stress in group-housed rats? Animal Welfare, 16 (2). pp. 185-188. ISSN 0962-7286

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Abstract

We assessed the value of sleep behaviour as a novel measure of stress in group-housed animals. We observed, non-invasively, sleep behaviour in 144 group-housed rats, and related it to other physiological and physical indicators of stress and welfare. Sleep frequency and duration correlated negatively with adrenal weight, and positively with bodyweight gain, and final bodyweight. Thus, low frequencies of sleep behaviour and low sleep duration correlate with some indicators of elevated physiological and physical stress, raising the possibility that sleep behaviour may provide an under-utilised, but potentially important, non-invasive indicator of stress and welfare for animals in groups.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	We assessed the value of sleep behaviour as a novel measure of stress in group-housed animals. We observed, non-invasively, sleep behaviour in 144 group-housed rats, and related it to other physiological and physical indicators of stress and welfare. Sleep frequency and duration correlated negatively with adrenal weight, and positively with bodyweight gain, and final bodyweight. Thus, low frequencies of sleep behaviour and low sleep duration correlate with some indicators of elevated physiological and physical stress, raising the possibility that sleep behaviour may provide an under-utilised, but potentially important, non-invasive indicator of stress and welfare for animals in groups.
Keywords:	Animal welfare, Sleep, Animal Behaviour
Subjects:	C Biological Sciences > C120 Behavioural Biology D Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related subjects > D328 Animal Welfare
Divisions:	College of Sciences > Faculty of Science > School of Life Sciences
Depositing User:	Oliver Burman
Date Deposited:	13 Jan 2011 19:37
Last Modified:	13 Mar 2013 08:53
URI:	http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/3835

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