Sample Data From: Ongoing Pilot Study

Animals and Methods:

Animals:

Following two weeks of singly housed acclimation in BioDAQ Food Intake Monitor cages and to a 12 hr light/dark cycle, CRL CD rats were switched from a chow to OpenSource Diet # D12483.

BioDAQ definitions:

Episodic food intake behavior was continuously monitored by the BioDAQ Food Intake Monitor at a 1 second and 0.02 gram resolution. A “bout” of feeding is the smallest unit of feeding, and consists of an amount and duration of consumption with a date and time record. A bout record is initiated when an animal disturbs the stable weight of the food hopper. The bout data is written to the data set when an animal does not disturb the food hopper above a noise threshold for 5 continuous seconds. An animals’ base feeding behavior during any period is defined by the bouts that comprise that period.

The BioDAQ Data Viewer is a flexible program allowing investigator driven analysis of the episodic bout data which is automatically collected by the BioDAQ Food Intake Monitor. The data analysis of a selected data set is displayed in both a graph format and corresponding excel based numerical tables of parameters calculated using investigator defined periods and meal parameters. The white line in the graph represents light intensity data collected automatically. Data analysis can be synchronized to light cycle automatically.

BioDAQ Data Viewer Sample Analyses:

The following series of graphs and tables will move from the animals’ overall weeks’ data down to a single data point to demonstrate the BioDAQ Food Intake Monitor’s resolution, and the flexibility of the programs and algorithms.

The sample data analyses includes a compression of the native data (bouts) using a meal parameter definition of Inter Meal Interval (IMI) of 900 seconds and a Minimum Meal Size (Min (g)) of 0.2 grams. By this definition (which is user defined), all bouts within 900 seconds of each other are combined into a meal. This meal is reported as a meal as long as the combined bouts exceed 0.2 grams.

As an illustration of BioDAQ data, a representative data set is presented from one animal. The PSC (Peripheral Sensor Controller) is the sensor number. Animal (PSC) number 9 is a 32 week old CD CRL male rat with a body weight of 677.1 at the start of this trial period.

Summary:

The BioDAQ Food Intake Monitor automatically collects bout data as shown above on up to 32 cages automatically. Water intake is based on the sample principles. The BioDAQ Data Viewer allows for the flexible analysis of the bout data on animals individually as well as in groups. The utility of the Data Viewer is best understood with a live or web based demonstration. These demonstrations can be arranged by contacting BioDAQ at biodaq@researchdiets.com.