Table 2. Example of a test battery for evaluating general health of a mouse*.
| Property | Features |
|---|---|
| Physical characteristics | Weight, temperature, whiskers, bald patches, eyelid closure, piloerection† |
| General behavioural observations in home cage | Running, sniffing, licking, rearing, jumping, defaecation, urination and movement |
| Sensorimotor reflexes | Righting‡, whisker response§, eye blink, ear twitch |
| Motor responses | Wire hang∥, tail suspension¶, pole test** |
| Cliff aversion | Latency to edge††, pokes over edge‡‡ |
* The described test battery shown in the Table was adapted from the one used in [48].
† Involuntary bristling of hairs due to a sympathetic reflex.
‡ The pup is placed on its side or back, and ability to turn over to position with all four feet on the ground is recorded.
§ A cotton swab is stroked across the whiskers of the mouse, and the response of placing its forepaw on the cotton swab is recorded.
∥ The mouse is allowed to grip a wire top, then inverted and gently waved in the air, so that it grips the wire. Latency to fall on to the bedding is recorded.
¶ The mouse is securely fastened by the distal end of the tail to a flat metallic surface and suspended in a visually isolated area. The presence or absence of immobility, defined as the absence of limb movement, is recorded.
** The mouse is timed on its performance to climb up a vertically placed pole.
†† The mouse is placed at an edge and the time to move away from it is recorded.
‡‡ The number of times the mouse pokes its head over the edge is recorded.