LabMaster: food and water intake, activity and metabolic rate

描述（由申请人提供）：在使用动物模型（如小鼠）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，药物治疗前后或作为遗传操作、选择性育种或学习的结果。本着这种精神，该应用程序的重点是需要10个国家卫生研究院资助的项目，由来自Monell化学感官中心的7名研究人员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。该系统的优点是它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。Monell Chemical Senses Center是一家独立的非盈利研究机构，目前还没有这样的设备。这些项目将受益于对小鼠这些表型的自动化和准确监测（和其他模型）涉及肥胖的遗传学;早期饲养对成年表型的影响;选择性饲养的小鼠品系中的酒精偏好行为;味觉和肥胖，食物摄入量和体重的相互作用，特别是在“喜欢甜食”的小鼠中;专门针对改变饮食组成和脂肪代谢的治疗;恶心和习得性味觉厌恶的神经伴随物;矿物质如钙的摄入和食欲;炎症对味觉的影响;以及味觉功能受损或增强的基因工程小鼠。这一设备是一大批核心调查员所需要的，将提高这里所做工作的质量。目前，食物和饮水数据是人工收集的，没有测量活动或气体交换的设施。这些领域的转化研究是关键问题，因为重点是预防肥胖和其他营养摄入疾病，例如，酗酒骨质疏松过量甜食摄入和糖尿病 公共卫生相关性：小鼠的食物和水摄入、活动和代谢模式因遗传操作或其他实验治疗而发生变化。在实验动物中对这些性状进行精确和详细的测量，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.