Comprehensive Laboratory Animal Monitoring System

描述(申请人提供)：许多困扰西方社会的常见疾病(例如肥胖、糖尿病、心血管疾病)是基因和环境之间复杂相互作用的结果。在美国，饮食和缺乏运动是导致可预防死亡的主要环境因素，仅次于吸烟。随着转基因小鼠模型可获得性的增加，越来越多的研究开始描绘特定的基因改变使有机体易受环境诱导的疾病状态(如饮食诱导的肥胖)的机制。儿童营养研究中心(CNRC)的主要研究重点是调查孕妇和哺乳妇女以及儿童从怀孕到青春期的营养需求。CNRC的研究重点是确定早期生命营养的变化可能如何影响与成熟相关的疾病的发展，如肥胖症、糖尿病和心血管疾病。CNRC的大量研究人员利用动物模型来研究特定饮食操作对生理和病理生理过程的影响，最终目标是将这些基础研究直接转化为临床试验的设计，以及政府关于人类营养指南的政策的实施。随着人类疾病小鼠模型的日益可用，迫切需要在营养研究期间对小鼠进行系统监测。哥伦布仪器公司在本申请中要求的综合实验室动物监测系统(CLAMS)配置将实现对食物摄入量、液体摄入量、尿液和粪便产生、体力活动、核心体温、心率和能量消耗的同时监测和/或控制。CLAMS仪器将创建位于CNRC的老鼠代谢研究单位的骨干，以满足CNRC和贝勒医学院内多名NIH和其他资助研究人员的需求。将为该文书及其管理和运作提供充分的机构支助。预计CLAMS仪器的建立将加速旨在确定目前给美国造成负担的常见代谢性疾病发病机制的分子机制的研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Many of the common diseases plaguing Western society (e.g. obesity, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease) are the result of a complex interaction between genes and the environment. Second only to smoking, diet and physical inactivity are among the primary environmental factors that cause preventable death in the United States. Armed with an increased availability of genetically modified mouse models, a growing number of studies have begun to delineate the mechanisms by which specific genetic alterations predispose the organism to environment-induced disease states (e.g. diet-induced obesity). The primary research focus at the Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC) is to investigate the nutritional needs of pregnant and nursing women, as well as children from conception through adolescence. Research at the CNRC is focused on determining how alterations in early life nutrition may influence the development of maturity-related diseases, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease. A large number of investigators at the CNRC utilize animal models to investigate the influence of specific dietary manipulations on both physiological and pathophysiological processes, with the ultimate goal of translating these basic research studies directly into the design of clinical trails, as well as implementation of government policy regarding human nutritional guidelines. With the increasing availability of mouse models of human disease, an urgent need has arisen for the systematic monitoring of mice during nutritional studies. The Columbus Instruments Comprehensive Laboratory Animal Monitoring System (CLAMS) configuration requested in the current application will enable the simultaneous monitoring and/or control of food intake, fluid intake, urine and feces production, physical activity, core body temperature, heart rate, and energy expenditure. The CLAMS instrument will create the backbone of a Mouse Metabolic Research Unit located at the CNRC, to serve the needs of multiple NIH and other funded researchers within both the CNRC and Baylor College of Medicine. Full institutional support will be provided for the instrument, for its management and operation. It is anticipated that establishment of the CLAMS instrument will accelerate studies designed to identify the molecular mechanisms responsible for the pathogenesis of common metabolic diseases that currently burden the United States.