Essential 10

4. Randomisation Describe the strategy used to minimise potential confounders such as the order of treatments and measurements, or animal/cage location. If confounders were not controlled, state this explicitly. explanation

4a State whether randomisation was used to allocate experimental units to control and treatment groups. If done, provide the method used to generate the randomisation sequence.
4b Describe the strategy used to minimise potential confounders such as the order of treatments and measurements, or animal/cage location. If confounders were not controlled, state this explicitly.
Explanation
Examples

Ensuring there is no systematic difference between animals in different groups apart from the experimental exposure is an important principle throughout the conduct of the experiment. Identifying nuisance variables (sources of variability or conditions that could potentially bias results) and managing them in the design and analysis increases the sensitivity of the experiment.

Essential 10

4. Randomisation Describe the strategy used to minimise potential confounders such as the order of treatments and measurements, or animal/cage location. If confounders were not controlled, state this explicitly. examples

Essential 10

4. Randomisation State whether randomisation was used to allocate experimental units to control and treatment groups. If done, provide the method used to generate the randomisation sequence. explanation

4a State whether randomisation was used to allocate experimental units to control and treatment groups. If done, provide the method used to generate the randomisation sequence.
4b Describe the strategy used to minimise potential confounders such as the order of treatments and measurements, or animal/cage location. If confounders were not controlled, state this explicitly.
Explanation
Examples

Using appropriate randomisation methods during the allocation to groups ensures that each experimental unit has an equal probability of receiving a particular treatment and provides balanced numbers in each treatment group. Selecting an animal ‘at random’ (i.e.

Essential 10

4. Randomisation State whether randomisation was used to allocate experimental units to control and treatment groups. If done, provide the method used to generate the randomisation sequence. examples

Essential 10

3. Inclusion and exclusion criteria For each experimental group, report any animals, experimental units, or data points not included in the analysis and explain why. If there were no exclusions, state so. explanation

3a Describe any criteria used for including or excluding animals (or experimental units) during the experiment, and data points during the analysis. Specify if these criteria were established a priori. If no criteria were set, state this explicitly.
3b For each experimental group, report any animals, experimental units, or data points not included in the analysis and explain why. If there were no exclusions, state so.
3c For each analysis, report the exact value of n in each experimental group.
Explanation
Examples

Animals, experimental units, or data points that are unaccounted for can lead to instances where conclusions cannot be supported by the raw data [1]. Reporting exclusions and attritions provides valuable information to other investigators evaluating the results, or who intend to repeat the experiment or test the intervention in other species. It may also provide important safety information for human trials (e.g. exclusions related to adverse effects).

Essential 10

3. Inclusion and exclusion criteria For each experimental group, report any animals, experimental units, or data points not included in the analysis and explain why. If there were no exclusions, state so. examples

Essential 10

3. Inclusion and exclusion criteria Describe any criteria used for including or excluding animals (or experimental units) during the experiment, and data points during the analysis. Specify if these criteria were established a priori. If no criteria were set, state this explicitly. explanation

3a Describe any criteria used for including or excluding animals (or experimental units) during the experiment, and data points during the analysis. Specify if these criteria were established a priori. If no criteria were set, state this explicitly.
3b For each experimental group, report any animals, experimental units, or data points not included in the analysis and explain why. If there were no exclusions, state so.
3c For each analysis, report the exact value of n in each experimental group.
Explanation
Examples

Inclusion and exclusion criteria define the eligibility or disqualification of animals and data once the study has commenced. To ensure scientific rigour, the criteria should be defined before the experiment starts and data are collected [1-4]. Inclusion criteria should not be confused with animal characteristics (see item 8 – Experimental animals) but can be related to these (e.g.

Essential 10

3. Inclusion and exclusion criteria Describe any criteria used for including or excluding animals (or experimental units) during the experiment, and data points during the analysis. Specify if these criteria were established a priori. If no criteria were set, state this explicitly. examples

Essential 10

2. Sample size Explain how the sample size was decided. Provide details of any a priori sample size calculation, if done. explanation

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