Swimming of albino mice

Abstract

Several methods for testing the incapacitating effect of drugs in laboratory animals are under investigation. The swimming test shows some promise. Small rodents such as guinea pigs swim for predictable times in water of specified temperature. Rats swim for an inordinately long period (up to 80 hr. in a bath about 36°C) and are not particularly useful for drug testing. The present report deals with swimming in mice. These animals were forced to swim to exhaustion in water baths of different temperatures at various simulated altitudes up to 30,000 feet. Swimming time was influenced more by bath temperature than by simulated altitude. Crowding the animals decreased swimming time. If temperature is kept constant and drug and dose are varied, mice should prove useful test animals for evaluating the incapacitating effects of various chemical agents. Submitted on December 1, 1959