Project
Advancing Indirect Calorimetry as a toolbox for (cardio-) metabolic research
The Indirect Calorimetry (InCa) system is an essential and core methodology in our lab to study in depth physiology and metabolism including metabolic health in mice. We aim to further advance our InCa system as a toolbox for (cardio-)metabolic research by (1) implementing telemetry technology to study thermoregulation and cardiovascular parameters in awake and freely moving mice, (2) improving the gas sensor technology to measure a wider range of gut microbiota activity, and (3) to combine it with specialised metabolic cages to measure 24h total energy balance.
Background
Obesity is a multifactorial metabolic disease and its prevalence is rising globally. While many factors can influence the cause and pathophysiology of obesity and associated metabolic diseases, it is evident that a disturbance of the energy balance (energy intake versus energy usage) is a major contributor. The energy balance can be measured using Indirect Calorimetry to – for example – investigate the effect of nutritional aspects on the disease progression.
Project description
Indirect Calorimetry (InCa) is a tool to measure metabolic health in preclinical studies using animal models like mice and has been employed in metabolic research quite extensively. In recent years, our lab has optimised and extended the standard InCa system beyond its regular application, and in such created an advanced InCa system to investigate nutritional impacts on metabolic health in more detail: also gut microbiota activity and metabolic fluxes can be measured in real-time and continuously. Currently, the integration of additional sensor technology (telemetry) combines metabolic and cardiovascular research, improves current sensor technology measuring gut microbiota activity, and broadens its applicability in the field of metabolic research.