A study by a group of Stanford researchers shows that uncomfortable, chilly conditions for lab mice may be partly responsible for the low reliability of animal drug testing. Currently nine out of ten drugs tested in mice fail in humans.

Joseph Garner, associate professor of comparative medicine, and his team recommend that lab mice and other lab testing animals be given materials to build nests in lab environments. Garner predicts that this change will allow lab mice to more naturally regulate their temperature, which might make them accept drugs in a more human-like way.

“If you want to design a drug that will help a patient in the hospital, you cannot reasonably do that in animals that are cold-stressed and are compensating with an elevated metabolic rate,” Garner said.

The study was published March 30 online in PLoS One.

-Matt Bettonville