ACRI, Rodent Metabolic and Behavioral Phenotyping Core

The Arkansas Children’s Research Institute has a state-of-the-art 35,000 square-foot animal facility, accredited by the American Association for the Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care and overseen by board-certified veterinarians. The Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center Rodent Metabolic and Behavioral Phenotyping Core operates within a dedicated wing of ~6,200 square feet, managed by Mr. James Sikes who leads a team of three full-time, highly trained personnel trained in all aspects of animal husbandry and health, surgery, glucose and insulin tolerance tests, and other specialized techniques.

The goal of the Rodent Metabolic and Behavioral Phenotyping Core is to support translational preclinical research at the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center by providing users with access to state-of-the-art equipment and scientific expertise.

The Rodent Metabolic and Behavioral Phenotyping Core utilizes state-of-the-art instrumentation to collect detailed physiological data for animal researchers:

• Two state-of-the-art Promethion Systems perform 24-h metabolic assessments of energy expenditure via indirect calorimetry, food/water-intake, core temperature and activity.
• Both Promethion systems, (able to run up to 32 mice simultaneously) are housed within temperature-controlled chambers, also available for long-term temperature control studies.
• Both Nuclear magnetic resonance (Echo MRI) as well as Dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) are available to assess body composition.
• The Stable Isotope Analyzer measures the oxidation of exogenous nutrients such as Carbon 13 and Oxygen 18 in exhaled breath.