Mouse Pregnancy Lab Report

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Mouse pregnancy experiment Topic: The weight increase of the female mouse and fetus during pregnancy. Problem: At what rate does a female mouse gain weight during pregnancy? Background information: • Unlike humans, mice bear multiple young. • The fetus grows by cells dividing at approximately an exponential rate. • The fetus develops the most during the first trimester. Hypothesis: If a healthy female mouse gets pregnant, then excluding the weight she gains from simply growing, she will gain weight at a bit less than an exponential rate. Operational definitions: • Pregnant o The state in which an animal has developing young growing in the uterus. • Exponential rate o The rate at which a number increases if exponents are applied. Increases rapidly. • The weight gained from growing o The weight a being gains with no outside cause. • Pups o Baby mice Experimental design: N/A Materials: • One female mouse that is fertile • One male mouse that is fertile • A 100 gram scale • Pencil and paper to record data • Mouse care materials o Three mouse cages o Mouse bedding o Food o Water bottle made for small animals o Exercise wheel o Any toys / accessories Lab safety and protocol: • MAKE SURE TO FIND LOVING HOMES FOR ALL THE BABIE MICE! • BE HUMANE TO MICE! • Do not pick up pregnant mouse by belly or the tail, the tail can come off • Sex the baby mice as soon as they are weaned. Separate the males into another cage (not the one with the father). • Handle mice with care, they may bite o Do not squeeze o Do not grab o Do not dangle by tail unless necessary • Do not allow pregnant mouse to smell any male mouse other than her mate or she will abort her litter Variables and constan... ... middle of paper ... ...how much she gains/losses weight, and estimate how much weight the babies actually weighed. The most insignificant change that I would make is to have a younger male mouse. I hoped to learn: • If the weight increase of the female is constant throughout. • The rate of increase • Capacity of uterus expansion • I wanted to learn what percentage of the female’s weight gain was from babies, how much from the placenta and amniotic fluids and how much weight the mother’s body itself gained. I couldn’t check this because if the babies were handled too soon, the mother would reject and eat them. I actually learned: • Even though mice reproduce so rapidly, it is still not 100% certain that pregnancy will occur • That because mice are so small, the daily weight gain is, on average, about 6% of their whole body weight. • Stress and environment influence weight a lot

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