Holmes AM et al. (2018), Effects of transportation, transport medium and...

XB-ART-54674

Gen Comp Endocrinol 2018 Sep 15;266:21-28. doi: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2018.03.015.

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Effects of transportation, transport medium and re-housing on Xenopus laevis (Daudin).

Holmes AM , Emmans CJ , Coleman R , Smith TE , Hosie CA .

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Understanding the immediate and longer-term effects of transportation and re-housing in a laboratory species is crucial in order to refine the transfer process, enable the optimal introduction of new animals to a novel environment and to provide a sufficient acclimatisation period before usage. Whilst consideration of animal welfare in most model vertebrate species has received attention, little quantitative evidence exists for the optimal care of the common laboratory amphibian Xenopus laevis. Techniques for the non-invasive welfare assessment of amphibians are also limited and here a non-invasive physiological assay was developed to investigate the impacts of transportation, transport medium and re-housing on X. laevis. First the impacts of transportation and transport medium (water, damp sponge or damp sphagnum moss) were investigated. Transportation caused an increase in water-borne corticosterone regardless of transport medium. Frogs transported in damp sphagnum moss also had a greater decrease in body mass in comparison to frogs not transported, suggesting that this is the least suitable transport medium for X. laevis. Next the prolonged impacts of transportation and re-housing were investigated. Frogs were transported between research facilities with different housing protocols. Samples were collected prior to and immediately following transportation, as well as 1 day, 7 days and 35 days after re-housing. Water-borne corticosterone increased following transportation and remained high for at least 7 days, decreasing to baseline levels by 35 days. Body mass decreased following transportation and remained lower than baseline levels across the entire 35 day observation period. These findings suggest the process of transportation and re-housing is stressful in this species. Together these findings have important relevance for both improving animal welfare and ensuring optimal and efficient scientific research.

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Species referenced: Xenopus laevis

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	Fig. 1. Parallelism (specificity) of serial halving dilutions of pooled X. laevis water-borne corticosterone compared against standard corticosterone curves repeated across 2 plates. Plate 1: standard 1 (+), sample 1 (▴), sample 2 (●). Plate 2: standard 2 (X), sample 3 (■), sample 4 (♦).
	Fig. 2. Effects of transportation and method on female (white bars) and male (grey bars) X. laevis, measured via (a) change in water-borne corticosterone and (b) change in body mass before and after transportation in water, sponge or moss or no transportation (mean ± standard error). An increase in corticosterone was observed in all transport groups compared to non-transported frogs, whilst the moss treatment resulted in a significantly greater decrease in body mass compared to X. laevis not transported (differences between treatment groups indicated by *).
	Fig. 3. Effects of transportation and re-housing on (a) water-borne corticosterone release rates and (b) body mass on female (solid lines) and male (dashed lines) X. laevis over time (mean ± standard error). Transportation and re-housing resulted in an increase in corticosterone and a decrease in body mass (significant differences between sampling time points and baseline levels (−1 days) indicated by *).