Purpose 

Monitoring metabolic and behavioral parameters in mice or rats under unrestrained conditions.

Equipment

PromethION modular metabolic cage system (Sable Instruments)
8 x mouse metabolic cages equipped with voluntary running wheels
4 x rat metabolic cages equipped with voluntary running wheels

Metabolic Cage System

Output measurements

  • Room environmental conditions (lighting, sound levels, temperature, humidity)

  • Oxygen consumption (VO2) in ml/min

  • Carbon dioxide emission (VCO2) in ml/min

  • Mean respiratory exchange ratio (RER), VCO2/VO2. RER reflects the percentage use of substrate at the cellular level at any time: 0.7 for fats, 0.8 for proteins and 1.0 for carbohydrates.

  • Mean energy expenditure (EE) calculated in kcal/hr 

  • Food intake (g)

  • Water intake (g)

  • Body mass (g)

  • Activity metrics (sum of all directed ambulatory locomotion of 1 cm/second or above in x, y and z directions. Measurement of fine movements such as grooming and scratching as well as directed ambulatory locomotion)

  • Voluntary wheel activity (m/s)

Monitoring 

The animal care staff will coordinate with the principal investigator to provide care for animals while using the PromethION system.

Training and scheduling

Training is required before use. Scheduling is arranged via an online calendar system. You will receive login information after training is completed. 

Please review our procedures and contact us for additional information.

Data storage and analysis

Data storage space or devices must be approved before use. All data should be transferred to the user’s approved storage device after experiment. Data analysis software can be downloaded (at no cost) to the user’s computer.

Please review our procedures and contact us for additional information.

Costs

Please review our fee schedule.