MOUSE PHENOTYPING, PHYSIOLOGY, AND METABOLISM CORE: Director - R. AhimaOur understanding of the pathogenesis of diabetes has benefited from the use of gene targetingmethodology in mice to elucidate molecular mechanisms. However, such efforts are oftenhampered by an absence of a clear metabolic phenotype. Failure to identify a phenotype may bedue to lack of expertise and/or facilities for evaluating metabolic changes in mice. The MousePhenotyping, Physiology and Metabolism Core provides investigators of the Penn Diabetes andEndocrinology Research Center (DERC) with state-of-the-art, timely and cost-effective diagnosticstudies in mice. The core offers consultation and experimental design, monitoring of feeding,energy expenditure and locomotor activity using the Comprehensive Laboratory Animal MonitoringSystem (CLAMS), treadmill exercise using the Oxymax system, and measurement of bodycomposition using dual emission x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and carcass chemistry. Glucosehomeostasis is assessed by oral or intraperitoneal (i.p.) glucose administration, and whole bodyinsulin sensitivity by i.p. insulin injection. Insulin clamp and radioactive tracers are used to assessglucose fluxes and tissue specific glucose uptake. Studies in the core are performed by tworesearch specialists under the direction of Rex Ahima. Future plans for the core include the usemagnetic resonance (MRI) for measurement of water, lean and fat content, assessment of in vivolipid kinetics, and employment of an additional technician to expedite services. The MousePhenotyping, Physiology and Metabolism Core will maintain a databank of metabolic and hormonalparameters in mouse models of diabetes and obesity, and coordinate its activities with other corelaboratories, i.e. Islet Cell Biology (Franz Matschinsky), Radioimmunoassay/Biomarkers (BryanWolf; Muredach Reilly), Transgenic and Chimeric Mouse (Nancy Cooke), and Genomics and GeneTargeting Cores (Klaus Kaestner). These efforts will result in optimum data acquisition andmetabolic phenotyping of mice, and facilitate the translation of ideas from the bench to mice, andultimately to humans.
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