The development of transparent cages for the breeding and maintenance of rodents, require the evaluation of the inside light intensity available to the animals.
The Council's Working Group for Rodents and Rabbits, in its document "Report for the revision of the Council of Europe ETS 123 Appendix A for small rodents and rabbits", suggest (or require?) that the effects of different cages materials, e.g. fully or partially "tinted" polycarbonates, should be studied.
Problems related with too high or too low light intensity are of interest for breeders and users of rodents for long term studies (toxicology, ageing). Tecniplast, as one of the major manufactures in the world of the new polysulfone (H-Temp) and polyetherimide (U-Temp) rodents' cages, has accepted to verify the light intensity in cages made with these materials and the compliance with the current guidelines and published suggestion.
Our tests, presented in a poster, compare the light intensity in IVC cages made with the following plastic materials:
1. Polycarbonate (Makrolon) not commercially available from Tecniplast on ventilated cages but still very diffused for traditional systems.
2. Polysulfone (H-Temp)
3. Polyetherimide (U-Temp)

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2.

3.

The test is special and in our knowledge unique because made with IVC cages, in other words with a top cover made of the same material of the standard bottom cage and possibly having interference with the light going in.
Apart for the animals that were not in the cages all the other standard conditions for the general set up of a ventilated rack are considered in our test:
- bedding
- cards holders
- bottles with water
Our results confirm the suitability for breeding and maintenance purposes of rodents in U-Temp and H-Temp cages. Details are available from the author.