Table 1.

Details of the items assessed in each study to conduct the quality assessment. Adapted from the Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) guidelines.²¹

Study characteristics	Item no.	Description
Title	1	Provide as accurate and concise a description of the content of the article as possible
Abstract	2	Provide an accurate summary of the background, research objectives, including details of the species or strain of animal used, key methods, principal findings and conclusions of the study.
Introduction
Background	3a	Include sufficient scientific background (including relevant references to previous work) to understand the motivation and context for the study and explain the experimental approach and rationale.
	3b	Explain how and why the animal species and model being used can address the scientific objectives and, where appropriate, the study's relevance to human biology.
Objectives	4	Clearly describe the primary and any secondary objectives of the study, or specific hypotheses being tested.
Methodology
Ethical statement	5	Indicate the nature of the ethical review permissions, relevant licenses (e.g. Animal [Scientific Procedures] Act 1986), and national or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals, that cover the research.
Study design	6a	The number of experimental and control groups.
	6b	Any steps taken to minimise the effects of subjective bias when allocating animals to treatment (e.g. randomisation procedure) and when assessing results (e.g. if done, describe who was blinded and when).
	6c	Any steps taken to minimise the effects of subjective bias when allocating animals to treatment (e.g. randomisation procedure) and when assessing results (e.g. if done, describe who was blinded and when).
Experimental procedures	7a	How (e.g., drug formulation and dose, site and route of administration, anesthesia and analgesia used [including monitoring], surgical procedure, method of euthanasia). Provide details of any specialist equipment used, including supplier(s).
	7b	When (e.g. time of day).
	7c	Where (e.g. home cage, laboratory, water maze).
	7d	Why (e.g. rationale for choice of specific anesthetic, route of administration, drug dose used).
Experimental animals	8a	Provide details of the animals used, including species, strain, sex, developmental stage (e.g. mean or median age plus age range) and weight (e.g. mean or median weight plus weight range).
	8b	Provide further relevant information such as the source of animals, international strain nomenclature, genetic modification status (e.g. knock-out or transgenic), genotype, health/immune status, drug or test naïve, previous procedures, etc.
Housing and husbandry	9a	Housing (type of facility e.g. specific pathogen free [SPF]; type of cage or housing; bedding material; number of cage companions; tank shape and material etc. for fish).
	9b	Husbandry conditions (e.g. breeding program, light/dark cycle, temperature, quality of water etc for fish, type of food, access to food and water, environmental enrichment).
	9c	Welfare-related assessments and interventions that were carried out prior to, during, or after the experiment.
Sample size	10a	Specify the total number of animals used in each experiment, and the number of animals in each experimental group.
	10b	Explain how the number of animals was arrived at. Provide details of any sample size calculation used.
	10c	Indicate the number of independent replications of each experiment, if relevant.
Allocation of animals	11a	Give full details of how animals were allocated to experimental groups, including randomisation or matching if done.
	11b	Describe the order in which the animals in the different experimental groups were treated and assessed.
Experimental outcomes	12	Clearly define the primary and secondary experimental outcomes assessed (e.g. cell death, molecular markers, behavioral changes).
Statistics	13	Appropriate statistics carried out on outcomes of each experimental group (including inter-group comparison if applicable)
Results
Baseline data	14	For each experimental group, report relevant characteristics and health status of animals (e.g. weight, microbiological status, and drug or test naïve) prior to treatment or testing.
Number analyzed	15a	Report the number of animals in each group included in each analysis.
	15b	If any animals or data were not included in the analysis, explain why.
Outcomes & estimation	16	Report the results for each analysis carried out, with a measure of precision (e.g. standard error or confidence interval).
Adverse effects	17a	Give details of all important adverse events in each experimental group.
	17b	Describe any modifications to the experimental protocols made to reduce adverse events.
Discussion
Interpretation/scientific implications	18a	Interpret the results, taking into account the study objectives and hypotheses, current theory and other relevant studies in the literature.
	18b	Comment on the study limitations including any potential sources of bias, any limitations of the animal model, and the imprecision associated with the results.
	18c	Describe any implications of your experimental methods or findings for the replacement, refinement or reduction (the 3Rs) of the use of animals in research.
Generalizability/translation	19	Comment on whether, and how, the findings of this study are likely to translate to other species or systems, including any relevance to human biology.
Funding	20	List all funding sources (including grant number) and the role of the funder(s) in the study