Preprint Review Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

In the Eye of the Beholder: Measuring and Standardising Light for Laboratory Mammals

Robert J Lucas
* ,
Annette Allan
,
George Brainard
,
Timothy Brown
,
Robert T. Dauchy
,
Altug Didikoglu
ORCID logo ,
Michael Tri H. Do
ORCID logo ,
Brianna N Gaskill
,
Samer Hattar
,
Penny Hawkins
,
Roelof A Hut
,
Richard McDowell
,
Randy J Nelson
ORCID logo ,
Jan-Bas Prins
ORCID logo ,
Tiffany M. Schmidt
,
Joseph Takahashi
,
Vandana Verma
,
Vootele Vöikar
,
Sara Wells
,
Stuart N. Peirson
Version 1 : Received: 25 September 2023 / Approved: 26 September 2023 / Online: 26 September 2023 (08:41:01 CEST)

How to cite: Lucas, R. J.; Allan, A.; Brainard, G.; Brown, T.; Dauchy, R. T.; Didikoglu, A.; Do, M. T. H.; Gaskill, B. N.; Hattar, S.; Hawkins, P.; Hut, R. A.; McDowell, R.; Nelson, R. J.; Prins, J.-B.; Schmidt, T. M.; Takahashi, J.; Verma, V.; Vöikar, V.; Wells, S.; Peirson, S. N. In the Eye of the Beholder: Measuring and Standardising Light for Laboratory Mammals. Preprints 2023, 2023091766. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.1766.v1 Lucas, R. J.; Allan, A.; Brainard, G.; Brown, T.; Dauchy, R. T.; Didikoglu, A.; Do, M. T. H.; Gaskill, B. N.; Hattar, S.; Hawkins, P.; Hut, R. A.; McDowell, R.; Nelson, R. J.; Prins, J.-B.; Schmidt, T. M.; Takahashi, J.; Verma, V.; Vöikar, V.; Wells, S.; Peirson, S. N. In the Eye of the Beholder: Measuring and Standardising Light for Laboratory Mammals. Preprints 2023, 2023091766. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.1766.v1

Abstract

Light enables vision and exerts widespread effects on physiology and behaviour, including regulating circadian rhythms, sleep, hormone synthesis, affective state, and cognitive processes. Appropriate lighting in animal facilities may support welfare and ensure that animals enter experiments in a controlled physiological and behavioural state. Proper consideration of light during experimentation - both when it is explicitly employed as an independent variable and as a general feature of the environment - has the potential to provide more informative experimental designs and more reliable outcomes, contributing to Reduction and Refinement, helping to ensure more ethical animal use, and improving data quality. As such, it is unfortunate that ambient light for animals is typically quantified in units (lux) designed for human observers. We report the consensus views of an expert working group, with expertise spanning mammalian photobiology, neurobiology and animal husbandry and welfare, convened in February 2023 to agree upon metrics for light appropriate for non-human mammals and their application to improve animal welfare and the quality of animal research. We conclude that species-specific versions of the recently standardised a-opic metrology represent the best available approach to quantifying light. We provide methods for measuring these quantities; practical guidance for their implementation in husbandry and experimentation; and quantitative guidance on appropriate light exposure for laboratory mammals.

Keywords

animal welfare; photoreceptor; light; circadian; laboratory animal

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Animal Science, Veterinary Science and Zoology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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