Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letters to Editor
  • Published:

Influences of laboratory environment on behavior

Nature Neuroscience volume 5, pages 1101–1102 (2002)Cite this article

To the editor

Advances in genomics have led to much excitement about the potential to identify genes influencing behavioral traits. Given that the proportion of variation due to genotype (heritability) of most behavioral traits is less than 50% (ref. 1), an exclusive focus on genetic determinants will not fully explain individual differences. Mouse genotype interacts with the laboratory environment2,3, and systematic variation and/or standardization of laboratory conditions has been advocated4. Generalization of results requires the assumption that they are not particular to a restricted set of standard laboratory conditions, but poor regulation of important variables can prevent replication. The major challenge therefore lies in determining which factors need to be regulated. Many sources of laboratory related variability remain unidentified, and the relative impact of known factors is unclear.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Frequency histogram of responses on the 49°C tail-withdrawal assay of 8,034 mice tested from 1993 to 2001.
Figure 2: Regression tree topology for sensitivity on the 49°C tail-withdrawal assay.

References

  1. Plomin, R. Science 248, 183–188 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Crabbe, J.C., Wahlsten, D. & Dudek, B.C. Science 284, 1670–1672 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Cabib, S., Orsini, C., Le Moal, M. & Piazza, P.V. Science 289, 463–465 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wahlsten, D. Physiol. Behav. 73, 695–704 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Mogil, J.S. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 7744–7751 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Breiman, L. Classification and Regression Trees (Wadsworth, Pacific Grove, CA, 1984).

  7. Berkley, K.J. Behav. Brain Sci. 20, 371–380 (1997).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Mogil, J.S., Wilson, S.G. & Wan, Y. in Methods in Pain Research (ed. Kruger, L.) 11–39 (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 2001).

  9. Paigen, K. & Eppig, J.T. Mamm. Genome 11, 715–717 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Jorum, E. Pain 32, 341–348 (1988).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, 61820, Illinois, USA

    Elissa J. Chesler, Sonya G. Wilson, William R. Lariviere & Jeffrey S. Mogil

  2. Dept. of Animal Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, 61820, Illinois, USA

    Sandra L. Rodriguez-Zas

  3. Dept. of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, H3A 1B1, Quebec, Canada

    Jeffrey S. Mogil

Authors
  1. Elissa J. Chesler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sonya G. Wilson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. William R. Lariviere
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sandra L. Rodriguez-Zas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jeffrey S. Mogil
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chesler, E., Wilson, S., Lariviere, W. et al. Influences of laboratory environment on behavior. Nat Neurosci 5, 1101–1102 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1102-1101

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1102-1101

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing