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Updated: Oct 17, 2025

Handling Techniques to Reduce Stress in Mice

Handling Techniques to Reduce Stress in Mice

Published on: September 25, 2021

Handling Techniques to Reduce Stress in Mice.

Michael Marcotte¹, Ashley Bernardo², Nathaniel Linga³

¹Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute of CAMH.

Journal of Visualized Experiments : Jove

|October 11, 2021

Summary

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New 3D-handling techniques reduce stress in mice, improving animal well-being and experimental reliability. This method enhances interaction and lowers corticosterone levels, offering a humane alternative to traditional tail-pick up.

Area of Science:

Laboratory animal science
Animal behavior and welfare
Experimental methodology

Background:

Handling laboratory animals can induce stress, impacting well-being and experimental outcomes.
Current handling methods for mice often cause stress, with limited focus on minimizing it.
Habituation to handling is crucial for reducing stress and improving data reliability in mice.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce and evaluate a novel 3-day handling (3D-handling) technique for mice.
To compare the 3D-handling technique with established tunnel and tail-pick up methods.
To assess the impact of different handling techniques on anxiety-like behaviors, experimenter interaction, and corticosterone levels in mice.

Main Methods:

A 3-day handling protocol (3D-handling) was developed to habituate mice to experimenters.

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Mice were exposed to 3D-handling, tunnel handling, or tail-pick up techniques.

Anxiety-like behaviors were measured using the Elevated-Plus Maze and Novelty Suppressed Feeding tests.

Experimenter interaction and corticosterone levels were also assessed.

Main Results:

Both 3D-handling and tunnel handling techniques reduced anxiety-like phenotypes in mice.
The 3D-handling technique significantly improved experimenter interaction in male mice.
Female mice subjected to 3D-handling showed reduced corticosterone levels.

Conclusions:

The 3D-handling technique is effective in minimizing stress and habituating mice to human interaction.
This method offers a valuable alternative to stressful handling techniques, especially when direct interaction is needed.
3D-handling improves animal welfare and enhances the reliability of research findings.