Gavage error estimation

Gavage is a commonly used method of oral administration to mice preferable to the more stressful avenue of administration via injection but worse than administration through drinking water or chow. The latter, however, is problematic if precise dosage is required.

For our experimental purposes we estimated the error of gavaging liquids as follows:

• ~2µl per aliquot for both 30 and 100µl aliquots

The relative error scales favourably with aliquot size:

• 7% for 30µl aliquots, 2% for 100µl aliquots

Method: The mass of 5 gavages (30 or 100µl) was measured and the error calculated. The measurement was repeated twice.