Measuring Food Anticipation in Mice

Abstract

The interplay between the circadian system and metabolism may give animals an evolutionary advantage by allowing them to anticipate food availability at specific times of the day. Physiological adaptation to feeding time allows investigation of animal parameters and comparison of food anticipation between groups of animals with genetic alterations and/or post pharmacological intervention. Such an approach is vital for understanding gene function and mechanisms underlying the temporal patterns of both food anticipation and feeding. Exploring these mechanisms will allow better understanding of metabolic disorders and might reveal potential new targets for pharmacological intervention. Changes that can be easily monitored and that represent food anticipation on the level of the whole organism are a temporarily restricted increase of activity and internal body temperature.

Deletion of the Clock GenePeriod2 (Per2)in Glial Cells Alters Mood-Related Behavior in Mice

“…The surgical procedures were performed as previously described (Martini et al, 2019). Briefly, mice were anesthetized with 80 mg per kg ketamine and 0.30 mg per kg medetomidine, while the anesthesia was reversed by atipamezole in 5 times the dose of medetomidine.…”

“…For this, the mice were entrained to LD conditions and then released into total darkness for a minimum of 10 days. The first three days were discarded as assimilation, while the subsequent 7 days were evaluated for a shift of activity onset on each consecutive day in order to give a measure of the length of the subjective day or free-running period, as previously described (Jud et al, 2005; Martini et al, 2019).…”

“…give a measure of the length of the subjective day or free-running period, as previously described (Jud et al, 2005;Martini et al, 2019).…”

“…For the biochip implantation, please see 'Surgical procedures'. All the procedures have been described in detail elsewhere (Martini et al, 2019).…”

The Hepatic Monocarboxylate Transporter 1 (MCT1) Contributes to the Regulation of Food Anticipation in Mice

“…The restricted feeding protocol, together with the recordings, has been described in detail elsewhere (Martini et al, 2019). Briefly, mice were single-caged and the activity or temperature was recorded for 3 weeks under free access to food, which we denote as ad libitum (AL), and then for 3 weeks under daytime restriction (RF), with mice receiving 80% of their daily intake (measured during AL) in the first week and 70% in the following 2 weeks.…”