The goal of the Metabolic Phenotyping Shared Resource (MPSR) is to support investigators by characterizing the effects of genetic manipulations, diets, environments and other interventions including drugs/small molecules on the metabolic phenotype in live rodent models. The metabolic phenotyping is critical in studies of multiple diseases including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, addiction, cancer, aging and other aging-related diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.  As metabolic function requires an intricate interplay between multiple organs, genes, environment and diet, thus, determining whole body metabolic functions is necessary to understand the pathology of such human diseases in rodent models, while they are alive, as well as the contribution of diet, drugs and environmental factors to these diseases. Services of the MPSR include performing mouse studies, acquiring data, filtering/processing the data along with support on data analyses and interpretations. In addition, core also supports active and potential collaborations in grants, manuscript publications and presentations, wherever these data/analyses are utilized.  

Core Equipment List

  1. TSE PhenoMaster System
  2. Climate Chamber

Core Services Offered

  • TSE PhenoMaster System
    • Indirect Calorimetry is the most commonly used method to measure whole body energy expenditure in the live animal. The TSE PhenoMaster home cage system allows for monitoring of multiple metabolic, behavioral and physiological measurements in live animals. The metabolic measures collected include continual monitoring of O2 and CO2 exchange for calculation of total energy expenditure and respiratory exchange ratio. Other measures collected include food/water intake, XYZ activity, and running wheels that can be enabled or disabled by time and distance. Currently, the core has a single unit with six mouse and six rat cages.
  • Climate Chamber
    • This environmental control chamber is specifically designed for TSE PhenoMaster indirect calorimetry experiments. During the experiments, temperature, light, and humidity are tightly controlled by software. The effects of temperature challenges (ranging from 4°C to 35°C) and circadian rhythms can be studied in detail.