|

Continuous Metabolic Phenotyping – How Continuous is “Continuous”?

A continuous metabolic phenotyping system is required for tracking rapid changes in metabolic data. Such a metabolic phenotyping system must sample continuously from each cage in parallel. Because each cage gets its own gas analyzer system, the sampling rate can be greatly increased relative to multiplexed systems, which share a gas analyzer chain between several…

Tiny Food Intake Events (Micro-Intakes) Can be Important!

Many food intake events (= food uptake events) are too small for legacy “food intake measurement systems” or metabolic phenotyping systems to detect. Each of these feeding events corresponds to a neurological signal to feed, even if the actual amount is small. As such, they convey important behavioral information. I can easily imagine a gene…

Combining a metabolic cage (with urine and feces collection) and respirometry: It’s easy!

In some fields of research, a difficult balancing act exists between answering different questions. For example, a researcher may need to measure metabolic rates, while also needing quantitative measurements of urine and feces output.  Measuring compounds in the urine is often key to understanding questions such as the biochemical pathways by which drugs are metabolized,…

Distinguishing individual food uptake in communally housed mice using RFID

Mice are communal beasts, just like rats. They live in groups, and separating them – as required for measuring food intake / food uptake or energy expenditure – stresses them, elevating cortisol levels and leading to to a host of unwanted side-effects. Using the right technology, however, obtaining separate food uptake recordings from communally housed…

The “Deep Data Field System” in Metabolic Phenotyping

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_color=”” video_preview_image=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility”…

Activity Metabolism Measurements Made Easy in Metabolic Phenotyping

One of the classic controversies in the field of metabolic science is the effect of activity on overall energy expenditure. As a comparative physiologist with a long-standing interest in energetics (and several papers published in that field), I find this controversy to be particularly strange, especially because some respectable and intelligent people will politely insist…