Causes of death in newborn C57BL/6J mice

Neonatal mortality in wild-type laboratory mice is an overlooked welfare and financial problem in animal facilities around the world. Causes of death are often not reported and its causes remain unknown.

In this study, 324 newborn pups from two breeding colonies of healthy wildtype C57BL/6 mice underwent post-mortem analysis with special focus on obtaining proof of life after birth, evaluation of stomach contents and observation of congenital abnormalities that could compromise survival.

Based on a combination of lung morphology findings, outcome of lung float test, stomach contents and brown adipose tissue colouration, 21.6% of the pups found dead were considered stillbirths. Of the livebirths, only 3.2% were observed to have milk inside the stomach, indicating successful suckling. Congenital abnormalities were diagnosed only in a small fraction of the pups analysed. These results suggest that starvation was the most common cause of death, followed by stillbirth.