LabMaster: food and water intake, activity and metabolic rate

描述(申请人提供)：在使用小鼠等动物模型的生物医学研究中，了解动物在不同实验状态下的代谢状态通常是有用的，有时也是必要的，例如，在药物治疗之前和之后，或者作为遗传操作、选择性繁殖或学习的结果。本着这一精神，这项申请侧重于由莫内尔化学传感中心的七名研究人员资助的10个国家卫生研究院项目的需求，以获得旨在自动测量食物和水的摄入量、活动、氧气消耗和二氧化碳产生的设备。该系统的优点是可以连续、准确地测量啮齿动物代谢的关键方面，这有助于解释和实施各种研究。莫内尔化学传感中心是一家独立的非营利性研究机构，目前还没有这样的设备。将受益于对小鼠(和其他模型)这些表型进行自动化、准确监测的项目涉及：肥胖的遗传学；早期饲养对成年表型的影响；精选品系小鼠的酒精偏好行为；味觉与肥胖、食物摄入量和体重的相互作用，尤其是对“甜味型”小鼠；针对改变饮食组成和脂肪代谢的专门治疗；恶心和习得性味觉厌恶的神经伴生性；钙等矿物质的摄入量和食欲；炎症对味觉的影响；用基因工程方法改造味觉功能受损或增强的小鼠。这一设备是一大批核心调查人员所需要的，并将提高在这里所做工作的质量。目前，食物和水的摄入量数据是人工收集的，没有测量活动或气体交换的设施。这些领域的翻译研究非常令人关注，因为重点放在预防肥胖和其他营养摄入疾病上，例如酒精中毒、骨质疏松症、甜食摄入过多和糖尿病。 与公共健康相关：小鼠的食物和水的摄入、活动和新陈代谢的模式由于基因操作或其他实验性治疗而改变。对实验动物这些特征的准确和详细的测量提高了实验结果的质量和可靠性。为此，我们正在申请资金，以购买一个系统，该系统将自动和连续地测量用作人类疾病模型的啮齿动物的食物和水的摄入量、活动和能量代谢。

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.