LabMaster: food and water intake, activity and metabolic rate

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In biomedical research using animal models such as mice, it is often useful and sometimes essential to understand the animal's metabolic status in different experimental states, for example, before and after drug treatment or as a result of genetic manipulation, selective breeding, or learning. In that spirit, this application focuses on the need of 10 National Institutes of Health-funded projects by seven investigators from the Monell Chemical Senses Center to obtain equipment designed to automatically measure food and water intake, activity, oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production. The advantage of this system is that it measures key aspects of metabolism of rodents continuously and accurately, which aids in the interpretation and implementation of a variety of studies. No such equipment is currently available within the Monell Chemical Senses Center, an independent, nonprofit research institution. The projects that would benefit from an automated and accurate monitoring of these phenotypes in mice (and other models) relate to the genetics of obesity; the effects of early husbandry on adult phenotypes; alcohol preference behavior among selectively bred strains of mice; the interaction of taste and obesity, food intake, and body weight, especially in mice that are "sweet-likers"; treatments specifically targeted at changing dietary composition and fat metabolism; the neural concomitants of nausea and learned taste aversions; the intake and appetite for minerals such as calcium; the effect of inflammation on taste; and genetically engineered mice with compromised or enhanced taste function. This equipment is needed by a large core group of investigators and will enhance the quality of the work done here. Currently, food and water intake data are collected manually, and there are no facilities for the measurement of activity or gas exchange. Translational research in these areas is of critical concern because of the focus on obesity prevention and other diseases of nutrient intake, e.g., alcoholism, osteoporosis, excess sweet intake, and diabetes. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The pattern of food and water intake, activity, and metabolism in mice changes as a result of genetic manipulation or other experimental treatments. The accurate and detailed measurement of these traits in experimental animals enhances the quality and reliability of experimental results. To that end, we are requesting funds to purchase a system that will automatically and continuously measure food and water intakes, activity, and energy metabolism of rodents used as models of human disease.