Comprehensive Laboratory Animal Monitoring System

描述（由申请人提供）：许多困扰西方社会的常见疾病（如肥胖、糖尿病、心血管疾病）是基因与环境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的可用性增加，越来越多的研究已经开始描绘特定遗传改变使生物体易患环境诱导疾病状态（例如饮食诱导的肥胖）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期妇女以及从怀孕到青春期的儿童的营养需求。中国研究中心的研究重点是确定生命早期营养的改变如何影响成熟相关疾病的发展，如肥胖、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，最终目的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性，迫切需要在营养研究中对小鼠进行系统监测。当前申请中要求的哥伦布仪器综合实验动物监测系统（CLAMS）配置将能够同时监测和/或控制食物摄入、液体摄入、尿液和粪便产生、身体活动、核心体温、心率和能量消耗。CLAMS仪器将成为位于CNRC的小鼠代谢研究单位的支柱，以满足CNRC和贝勒医学院内多个NIH和其他资助研究人员的需求。将为该工具的管理和运作提供充分的体制支助。预计CLAMS仪器的建立将加速旨在确定目前困扰美国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.