Development of Acomys cahirinus in the laboratory conditions

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Abstract

The Cairo spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus) is a unique animal model for studying ontogenesis and regeneration. At the same time, the features of its biology, in particular, the small number of pups in the litter, significantly complicate research work. The aim of the article was to study the behavior and reproduction of the Cairo spiny mice and to create the reproductive nucleus of the colony in our laboratory. This article describes the husbandry of Cairo spiny mice, and techniques of working with them, such as optimizing the diet and housing conditions, handling and marking for individual identification, and also some reproductive parameters of the colony. We have optimized the animal diet by adding dry arthropods, an important component of the spiny mice natural diet, as well as enriched the environment by placing to each cage the running wheels, tunnels and houses. As a result, an increase in the number of animals was obtained by more than 50% over 9 months; the overall survival rate of the offspring was 98%.

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About the authors

P. Y. Shkorbatova

Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: merkulyevan@infran.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

A. A. Veshchitskii

Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: merkulyevan@infran.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

A. A. Mikhalkin

Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: merkulyevan@infran.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

N. I. Nikitina

Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: merkulyevan@infran.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

A. V. Belyaev

Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: merkulyevan@infran.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

N. S. Merkulyeva

Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: merkulyevan@infran.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

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2. Fig. 1. Housing conditions and sex determination. (a) — General view of the cage and habitat. (b) — Handling using a transparent tube. (c) — Sex determination in adult and newborn Cairo spiny mice.

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3. Fig. 2. Animal markings. (a) — Photo of the right foot of a Cairo spiny mouse with a tattoo on the 3rd toe (animal number 3). (b) — Scheme of coding animal numbers: tattoos on the right paw mean units, on the left — tens; tattoos on the pads of the right foot — hundreds.

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4. Fig. 3. Fixation of the animal in a towel (a) and subsequent implementation of routine procedures: (b) - intramuscular injection in the shin area, (c) - intraperitoneal injection, (d) - subcutaneous injection in the fold on the side, (e) - drinking.

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5. Fig. 4. Body weight gain in females during gestation. (a) — Individual weight gain curves for three females; the gray triangle marks the time interval during which visible body weight gain occurs. (b) — Average data for the group. (c–d) — Relationship between the number of offspring in a litter and female weight gain from pre-pregnancy values ​​to values ​​immediately before parturition: (c) — percentage weight gain %, (d) — absolute weight, the line on the graph is the linear regression curve; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.

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6. Fig. 5. Weight gain of cubs after birth. (a) — Individual weight gain curves for three cubs. (b) — Average data for groups of cubs. (c) — Average data for male (black) and female (gray) cubs. (d) — Average data for adult males (M) and females (F). * — differences between ages (Kruskal–Wallis test); # — differences between sexes (Mann–Whitney test); * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001; **** p < 0.0001; # p < 0.05; ## p < 0.01; #### p < 0.0001.

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7. Fig. 6. Dynamics of male weight during 13-week monitoring. (a) — Average data for the group. (b) — Individual values ​​for all animals. ** p < 0.01.

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