Abstract
Daily vacuuming of floors and flat-shelf racks is a standard procedure in our rodent housing rooms. To determine whether the noise produced by this activity is a potential stressor to animals used for transgenic and knockout mouse production, we measured the sound levels in our genetically engineered mouse facility under ambient conditions and at the in-cage and room levels during vacuuming. Spectral analysis showed that vacuuming produces a multitonal, low-frequency noise that is not attenuated by microisolation caging with bedding material. Comparison of cage-level spectral analysis results with age-specific audiograms of C57Bl/6 and CD1 mice showed that vacuuming produces frequencies audible to C57Bl/6 mice at 3 and 6 mo of age and to CD1 mice at 1 mo of age. These findings suggest that vacuuming in animal rooms could be a source of stress to animals with these genetic backgrounds.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 52-57 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - Jan 2007 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Animal Science and Zoology