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Energy Homeostasis

Sable Systems Promethion Core

The Sable Systems Promethion platform is a cutting-edge tool for in-depth assessment of murine in vivo physiology, specifically targeting indirect calorimetry and energy expenditure. Utilizing highly sensitive gas analysers, it enables continuous measurement of oxygen consumption (VO2) and carbon dioxide production (VCO2). This information is crucial for calculating respiratory exchange ratios (RQ), shedding light on fuel utilisation patterns.

 

Additionally, the platform integrates features for monitoring food and water intake, providing insights into nutritional behaviours. Simultaneously, the system tracks locomotion and exercise, offering a comprehensive understanding of energy balance. With mice housed in metabolic chambers, this technology enables extended, real-time observations, facilitating nuanced investigations into metabolic health and contributing significantly to research on metabolic diseases.

Our setup also integrates the Stable Isotope Gas Analyzer, designed to measure isotopically labelled gases, such as ¹³CO₂, in real-time from exhaled air of rodents. This allows for precise tracking of metabolic substrate utilisation.

  • By administering stable isotope-labelled substrates (e.g., ¹³C-glucose, ¹³C-palmitate), the analyzer detects how much ¹³CO₂ is produced, indicating the oxidation of that specific substrate.

  • This enables researchers to quantify carbohydrate vs. fat oxidation rates, assess metabolic flexibility, and monitor how metabolism shifts in response to diet, fasting, exercise, or disease models.

Together, this provides dynamic insight into substrate metabolism in free-living, unrestrained animals, offering rich insights into in vivo fuel usage and energy balance regulation. For more information on the use of stable isotopes, see this webinar: https://insidescientific.com/webinar/utilizing-stable-isotope-tracers-preclinical-obesity-research/

 

Our setup allows simultaneous capture of data from up to 16 experimental mice at any one time. For more information and training, please contact us.

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Centre for Cardiovascular Science

Edinburgh BioQuarter

Edinburgh, EH16 4TJ

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