AIMS

• The current method of oral gavage in mice using gavage needles is a source of stress for the animals, potentially misleading or invalidating the results of an experiment. There are currently minimal alternatives to this method.
• We propose a stress-free alternative for the oral application of compounds in pharmacological or toxicological studies.
• This novel methodology consists of using agar-fortified pills with high palatability for the mice that are voluntarily consumed by the animals, with minimal handling.
• Reducing stress and mortality ensures the reproducibility and robustness of the results.