Simultaneous, Non-Contact and Motion-Based Monitoring of Respiratory Rate in Sheep Under Experimental Condition Using...

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Animal Welfare Science
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Sheep are vital animal models in translational research for disease and treatment studies.
• Experimental conditions can cause stress, pain, and discomfort in research animals, necessitating ethical monitoring.
• Directive 2010/63/EU emphasizes the need for refined animal research methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a non-contact method for monitoring sheep respiration rates using video processing.
• To assess the feasibility of using video technology for non-invasive respiratory monitoring in laboratory sheep.
• To provide a tool for evaluating animal health deterioration and welfare in research settings.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Detecron2 model for segmenting sheep body, abdominal, and facial regions in video frames.
• Developed a motion-tracking algorithm to analyze abdominal movements corresponding to the respiratory cycle.
• Applied the method to videos of Rhön sheep using both visible and near-infrared (NIR) cameras under experimental and housing conditions.

Main Results:

• Achieved a mean average error (MAE) of 0.79 breaths/minute with the visible light camera.
• Obtained an MAE of 1.83 breaths/minute with the near-infrared (NIR) camera.
• Demonstrated the feasibility of simultaneous, non-invasive respiration monitoring via video technology.

Conclusions:

• Video-based respiration monitoring is a viable non-invasive technique for assessing sheep health.
• This method supports ethical animal research by providing objective welfare indicators.
• The technology can be crucial for monitoring the health status of multiple laboratory animals simultaneously.