Question: hi emma! I was wondering whether or not there's a negative affect on the mice that are experimented on with cocaine. thanks! :)

Emma Cahill answered on 12 Nov 2013:

Hi there Conor, you’re right to ask this question! I inject mice with cocaine so I can study precisely what cocaine does to the chemical pathways of the brain, because I cant do that in Humans. But much like Humans, mice that are treated with cocaine act differently. In the short term their heart rate increases, they become gittery and start “singing”- yes mice are making noises all the time that we cant hear called “ultrasonic vocalisations”. Some studies also look at whether it also may increase their anxiety levels in the long term and we know that some mice and rats will go to starvation point if given the choice between food and drugs!. So mostly the long term effects are negative (like in humans).
In general for the people who experiment on mice, we care for them very carefully. Not only are we obliged to by laws which are very strict to protect how we use animals, but often we take care for them everyday (including weekends sometimes :/ ) and raise them ourselves, so no mater what type of experiment we do (drugs or just mazes etc) we need to think of the animals welfare all the time.