Environmental enclosure for the determination of fuel metabolism across a range of temperatures

这是对我们的小型啮齿动物新陈代谢笼养系统使用的环境围栏的请求，该系统将允许在新陈代谢笼子内进行可变温度控制。这一基础设施是迫切需要的，因为它将使我们能够测量一系列温度范围内的能量消耗和全身基质氧化，这是我们目前所不具备的能力。考虑到我们NSERC资助的研究项目扩大到研究寒冷中的燃料新陈代谢，以及越来越多地认识到在热中性条件下饲养啮齿动物的重要性，这一需求变得至关重要；事实上，我们最近的一些论文和拨款申请因未能衡量热中性条件下的能量消耗而受到批评。为了保持国际竞争力，并继续为高素质人才(HQP)提供最高标准的培训，我们的研究计划必须能够测量一系列环境温度下的能源消耗和燃料氧化。虽然该地区的其他大学拥有能够调节温度的新陈代谢笼子，但机构之间的动物转移在后勤上具有挑战性，可能会给动物带来压力，这可能会扰乱实验结果。此外，实验通常涉及一次对动物进行几天的监测，这意味着对该系统的需求将会很大，这进一步限制了在其他机构获得所需基础设施的可行性。考虑到这些点，在内部获得所需的基础设施是衡量不同温度下能源消耗的唯一可行方法。*主要申请者的研究计划本质上是综合性的，鼓励HQP考虑影响生物系统的所有因素。测量能量消耗提供了有关对各种扰动的反应的关键信息。事实上，获得所需的基础设施将使我们能够考虑在寒冷的情况下改变能源支出和燃料利用。这些相同的终点也将在实验啮齿动物身上进行测量，在热中性条件下，这种条件越来越被认为比室温条件下对人类生理学的可译性更好。来自6个研究实验室的40多名总部质检人员将立即直接受益于所需设备的采购。这一群体包括17名硕士、14名博士、13名本科生和4名博士后研究员，这是一个庞大而多样化的受训者群体，来自多个寻求股权的群体。值得注意的是，预期用户实验室中超过50%的HQP是女性。**

This is a request for an Environment Enclosure to be used with our metabolic caging system for small rodents that will allow variable temperature control within the metabolic caging. This infrastructure is urgently needed as it will allow us to measure energy expenditure and whole-body substrate oxidation across a range of temperatures, capabilities that we do not currently possess. This need has become critical given the expansion of our NSERC funded research programs into the study of fuel metabolism in the cold and the increasingly recognized importance of housing rodents under thermal neutral conditions; indeed, a number of our recent papers and grant applications, have been criticized for their failure to measure energy expenditure under thermal neutral conditions. In order for us to remain internationally competitive and to continue to provide the highest standard of training to highly qualified personnel (HQP), it is essential for our research programs to be able to measure energy expenditure and fuel oxidation across a range of environmental temperatures. While other universities in the region have metabolic cages with the capacity to regulate temperature the transfer of animals between institutions is logistically challenging and can cause stress to the animals, which can confound experimental results. Moreover, experiments typically involve monitoring animals for several days at a time, which means there will be significant demands on the system which further limits the feasibility of accessing the required infrastructure at other institutions. Given these points, obtaining the requested infrastructure in-house is the only feasible way to measure energy expenditure across various temperatures.***The research programs of primary applicants are integrative in nature, where HQP are encouraged to consider all factors influencing biological systems. Measuring energy expenditure provides critical information regarding the response to various perturbations. Indeed, obtaining the requested infrastructure will allow us to consider alterations in energy expenditure and fuel utilization in the cold. These same endpoints will also be measured in experimental rodents housed at thermal neutrality, a condition which is increasingly being recognized as superior to room temperature housing for translatability to human physiology. Over 40 HQP from across 6 research laboratories will immediately and directly benefit from the acquisition of the requested equipment. This group includes 17 MSc, 14 PhD, 13 undergraduates and 4 post-doctoral fellows, a large and diverse group of trainees with strong representation from multiple equity seeking groups. Of note greater than 50% of the HQP in the laboratories of the anticipated users are female.**