Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

hello,
i am having a problem finding a way to measure the body fat of a mouse that is inexpensive and inevasive. i have looked everyway and cannot find an answer, any ideas would be greatly appreciated. thank you

The immersion test is the most accurate, but I'm not sure how it would be done with a mouse. It requires you to expel the air from your lungs and I wouldn't categorize it as "Simple" or "safe".

There are electronic body fat devices - they measure how well electricity flows through the flesh. The problem with them, is that while simple to do compared to immersion, they aren't considered very accurate.

Most other methods depend on being human - they take measurements of parts of your body, on the principle that fat packs in certain places, different for male and female. Not useful unless you can find somebody who has done this sort of formula for a mouse. On humans, this tends to be more accurate than the electronic devices.

I wish I could be of more help.

hi!

I;m not sure if this will help you, but I hope it does. It measures the body fat of humans, so hopefully it will work for mice...

1. http://www.prevention.com/bmicalculator ... -1,00.html

That was all I could find. If i find more, I'll post another message.

hi again!

I'm not sure if the site I gave you will help anymore.. Read this site and you will find out why...

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/fattest.shtml

Sorry about that!

Hi there,

That's an interesting question that you've posted. Because you're working with mice, I'm assuming that you already have SRC approval. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, PLEASE REPLY. It's very important to have approval to perform any experiments dealing with mice.

All universities that engage in animal research have veterinarians in the animal facility that are a really great resource. Assuming you're doing your research at a university, my first suggestion is that you ask the facilities coordinator (or equivalent) at your university. They should have some really great ideas.

Alternatively, I've heard of calipers being used to measure the fat located between the hind legs and the tail. That's a very typical place for fat to be deposited in rodents.

I also found a webpage that may have links to other useful sites:
http://bme.case.edu/bmil/dj.html

Try doing some literature searches on obese. A good place to start may be mice lacking insulin signaling. Recent findings in the literature have quantified the obesity in these mice, and the methods section may be useful to you.

I hope this was helpful. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Linh