Infrared thermography (IRT): a new noninvasive tool for the evaluation of Lab Animal Welfare

It is widely recognized that the welfare of the animals submitted in biomedical experiments is crucial for the consistency of the results achieved. The “welfare” of laboratory animals is related not only to the experimental paradigm but also to the housing conditions. Animals born and maintained in different cages may, in fact, behave in a slightly (but significant) different way, giving rise to experimental variability. The presence into the home cage of environmental enrichment can modify the behavioural and immune response of the animals to different stimuli. In these complex situations it is important to determine animal welfare through easy and non-invasive methods that can be applied to wide range of different situations (i.e. different cage types). Infrared thermography (IRT) is an innovative method to measure the skin temperature in order to identify stressful situations which could lead to a decrease in this parameter due to peripheral vasoconstriction in mammals. A recent study used IRT, to assess the effects of management systems and farming on the physiology and behavior of rabbits and another study, in nude mice, used IRT to detect the effects of anesthesia by assessing whether the skin temperature of the animals undergoing anesthesia quickly returned to a baseline level or could cause some type of stress to the animals. Since variations in surface temperature and alteration in blood flow are some of the most interesting indicators to evaluate a response to the presence of stress (peripheral vasoconstriction), this technique is a potential, non-invasive and objective method for the evaluation of welfare in laboratory animals. During the presentation will be shown data to support the argumentations.