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Abstract
Groups of male CFLP mice housed in cages furnished with shelves and nestboxes showed
increased aggression and reduced resistance to an experimental infection of Babesia
microti when compared with groups in unfurnished cages. Both a bystander measure of
immunocompetence (serum total IgG concentration) and resistance to B. microti decreased
as the number of attacks received by mice increased, but increased with the number
of times individuals were recorded on shelves or in nestboxes. Serum concentrations
of testosterone and corticosterone were generally downregulated in furnished cages;
the absence of hormone-related reduction in resistance may have been due partly to
this, but partly also to the apparent modulation of hormone concentrations in relation
to concurrent immunocompetence. Some welfare implications of the results are considered.