Shin, Jisu Woo, Jiwan Cho, Yakdol Choi, Yoon Hee Shin, Naewoo Neo Kim, YoungSoo 2024-01-19T23:33:48Z 2024-01-19T23:33:48Z 2022-01-25 2018-01 2045-2322 https://pubs.kist.re.kr/handle/201004/121842 Understanding the physiological implications of caging conditions for mice is crucial in improving the replicability and reliability of animal research. Individual caging of mice is known to alter mouse psychology, such as triggering depression-like symptoms in mice, suggesting that caging conditions could have negative effects on mice. Therefore, we hypothesized that individual caging could affect the physical composition of outbred mice. To investigate this, dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used to compare the mass, bone mineral content (BMC), bone mineral density (BMD), lean tissue percentage and fat tissue percentage between group and individual caged mice. We also conducted open field test to compare mouse activities in different caging conditions. Our results showed significantly reduced BMD and lean tissue percentage and significantly increased fat tissue percentage in individually-caged male mice. Furthermore, there were no differences in body mass and activity between the grouped and individual mice, suggesting that these physical alterations were not induced by group-related activity. In this study, we conclude that individual caging could alter the body composition of mice without affecting external morphology. English NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP Four-week individual caging of male ICR mice alters body composition without change in body mass Article 10.1038/s41598-018-19808-x 1 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v.8 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS 8 N scie scopus 000422912100014 2-s2.0-85040918022 Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics Article OBESITY PHARMACOKINETICS