Effect of sex, age, and handling on epileptiform seizures of Mongolian gerbils (<i>Meriones unguiculatus</i>) as pet animals

KAI Osamu, INOUE Takafumi

doi:10.2508/chikusan.87.17

Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) are used as experimental animals in epilepsy research, but gerbils that suffer seizures are not suitable as pets. Here, we investigated the induction of epileptiform seizures in gerbils treated as pets. In Experiment 1, 139 gerbils (7 to 174 weeks old) were divided among five groups of both sexes by age. They were put on hands (“hand”) for 2 min and, 1 week later, in an unfamiliar cage (“cage”) for 2 min. Twenty out of 60 females (33.3%) and 13 out of 79 males (16.5%) exhibited seizures in response to both stimuli (P<0.05). The “hand” test induced significantly more seizures than “cage” one in both sexes (P<0.01), but there was no difference between the sexes. The incidence of seizures differed significantly among age groups (lower in youngest and oldest groups) in females but not in males. In Experiment 2, five gerbils of each sex that exhibited seizures on both tests in Experiment 1 were held for up to 5 min/day for 7 days. By 7 days, none exhibited seizures. In contrast, some females (but not males) that were not held daily exhibited seizures on “hand” test after 1 week. All 10 animals again exhibited seizures after 2 months without being held.

Effect of sex, age, and handling on epileptiform seizures of Mongolian gerbils (<i>Meriones unguiculatus</i>) as pet animals

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