Over the past few years different methods of in vivo imaging have become common place and are often used to look at tumour growth or brain function. When carrying out bioluminescence scans our researchers reported seeing some inconsistencies in theircontrol animals. Was this a fault with the scanner or could it be something else? Previous research had shown that standard animal feed and forage items, like sunflower seeds, had produced strong bioluminescence signals and this may account for false signals. The animals in question had been given a special feed, devoid of chlorophyll, so diet was ruled out. On completion of the studies the mice were humanely culled and were sampled. Necropsy results showed they had undigested wooden particles from thecage substrate in their digestive tract. This posed the question - was this the cause of the abnormalities all along? For example, had the animals been eating the bedding?
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