Rat

Surgical Services

Carotid artery or jugular vein (“single line”)
Facilitates either arterial sampling or veinous infusion.

Carotid artery and jugular vein (“double line”)
Facilitates both arterial sampling and veinous infusion.

BodyCAP Anipill Capsules
Surgically implanted Anipill capsule to measure core body temperature measurement through with 1 minute to 1 hour sampling frequency. 

BodyCAP Anipill Capsules

Surgical development
Please reach out if a new experimental need arises!

Whole body energy balance

IKA C3000 Calorimeter
Caloric content determination of feces to determine the final “calories out” of the energy balance equation, or caloric content determination of special diet.

IKA C3000 Calorimeter

Stable isotope infusions
Infusion of stable isotopes through the jugular vein and blood sampling from the carotid artery.

Infusion of stable isotopes through the jugular vein and blood sampling from the carotid artery. 

Glucose clamp (hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp with [3-3H]glucose and 2-[14C]deoxyglucose)
Clamp procedures in the conscious, un-restrained rat (includes surgery, analysis and plasma insulin measurement). This procedure will allow investigators to assess whole-body insulin action (GIR) and to distinguish between insulin’s effect on endogenous glucose production (EndoRa), glucose utilization (Rd) and to examine insulin’s effect on specific tissues (Rg; muscle, fat, heart, brain).

Glucose tolerance test
Intraperitoneal or oral delivery of glucose to assess glucose tolerance. 

Insulin tolerance test
Intraperitoneal injection of insulin to assess insulin tolerance. 

Fasting plasma insulin​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​Plasma collection then insulin ELISA.

FLIR Thermal Camera
Non-invasive thermal imaging of mouse surface temperature (i.e. to assess interscapular BAT temperature). 

Other services

The RMPC works with IDEXX BioAnalytics to measure the analytes listed below in plasma or serum. Please reach out for specific sample collection guidelines if you are interested in this service.

  • Liver function panel: ALT, AST 
  • Kidney function panel: BUN, CREA
  • Custom Chemistry Panel: C-Reactive Protein
  • Custom Chemistry Panel:  ALP, ALT, AST, BUN, Bile acids, CREA, GGT, TBIL
  • Custom Chemistry Panel: ALT, AST, BUN, CREA
  • Custom Chemistry Panel: ALT, AST, TBili
  • Other metabolites:  
    • Alanine aminotransferase (ALT; per replicate)
    • Albumin (ALB; per replicate)
    • Alkaline phosphatase (ALP; per replicate)
    • Ammonia (NH3; per replicate)
    • Amylase (AMYL; per replicate)
    • Aspartate aminotransferase (AST; per replicate)
    • Calcium (Ca; per replicate)
    • Cholesterol (CHOL; per replicate)
    • Creatine kinase (CK; per replicate)
    • Creatinine (CREA; per replicate)
    • Glucose (GLUC; per replicate)
    • Inorganic phosphate (PHOS; per replicate)
    • Lactate (LAC; per replicate)
    • Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH; per replicate)
    • Lipase (LIPA; per replicate)
    • Magnesium (Mg; per replicate)
    • Total bilirubin (TBIL; per replicate)
    • Total protein (TP; per replicate)
    • Triglycerides (TRIG; per replicate)
    • Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN; per replicate)
    • Uric acid (URIC; per replicate)

 

Intraperitoneal, subcutaneous, retro orbital, tail vein injections.

Collection of any desired tissue.

Tissue fatty acid uptake is assessed by measuring tissue-specific incorporation of circulating R-2-Bromopalmitic acid [9,10-3H] following intravenous injection which is not metabolized via β-oxidation.

​​​Intraperitoneal injection of pyruvate to estimate hepatic gluconeogenesis.

 

 

 

 

If you want to schedule an experiment, please reach out to our Technical Director, Corey Holman at  holmanc@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.

The Rodent Metabolic Phenotyping Core is part of The Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, & Metabolism in the Smilow Center for Translational Research.