Einstein Animal Physiology Core

Overview

The Einstein Animal Physiology Core assists biomedical investigators in the in vivo assessment of glucose and fatty acid metabolism, insulin sensitivity and energy homeostasis in mice and rats. The Animal Physiology Core offers a wide range of specialized, high quality methodologies and tools relevant to understanding the behavior and physiology mediating the relationships among diabetes, nutrient sensing, obesity and diabetic cardiovascular complications in rodents.

Objectives

1. To offer advice and instruction to students, postdoctoral fellows, investigators and technical staff in the design and performance of physiological approaches and techniques necessary to evaluate the control of glucose homeostasis and insulin action in rodents.
2. To make available to investigators specialized measurements of whole body and tissue-specific glucose metabolism and insulin action in rodent models including insulin, pancreatic and hyperglycemic clamps.
3. To provide specialized gastrointestinal and neural surgical models for the study of insulin sensitivity, energy balance, and glucose and fatty acid metabolism, including gastric bypass and adipose tissue denervation.
4. To provide analysis of whole body carbohydrate/fatty acid oxidation, energy expenditure, thermogenesis, food intake, and locomotor activity using specialized metabolic (indirect calorimetry) rodent cages.
5. To provide assessment of the effects of diet, exercise, light/dark cycle and environmental temperature on glucose homeostasis and metabolism.
6. To make available to investigators specialized measurements of rodent adipose tissue distribution using magnetic resonance spectroscopy and microCT, and measurements of glycogen in liver and muscle, intrahepatic lipids and intramyocellular lipids using NMR.
7. To make available to investigators specialized measurements of brain energy and glucose utilization by functional MRI (fMRI) and microPET scanning.
8. To assist investigators in the interpretation of data and to design further experimental approaches to reveal the molecular and physiologic basis of rodent phenotypes.

Services

The following services and determinations have been provided by the Core during the current project period and/or will be available to ES-DRC investigators. These services can be divided into three overall components:

1. In vivo assessment of insulin sensitivity and action, energy balance, and exercise. These assessments are augmented by the new surgical procedures permitting selective targeting of brain and peripheral nervous system and intestinal sites.
2. Measurement of body fat composition/distribution, CNS energy and glucose utilization using a variety of non-invasive imaging modalities.
3. Assessment of cardiac physiology in various experimental and therapeutic intervention models of diabetes and obesity.

Prioritization

Use of this Core is available to investigators engaged in diabetes-related research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and its affiliated Institutions, and to investigators at other institutions. The Core generally supports projects funded by peer-reviewed grants, generally from the NIH, ADA, or JDRF.