VA Puget Sound Health Care System

4 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Behavior

Assessment of Murine Exercise Endurance Without the Use of a Shock Grid: An Alternative to Forced Exercise

Jennifer D. Conner^1,2, Tami Wolden-Hanson¹, LeBris S. Quinn^1,3,4

¹Research Service, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, ²Seattle Institute for Biomedical and Clinical Research, ³Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, ⁴Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Puget Sound Health Care System

A method to assess exercise endurance in laboratory mice without the use of a shock grid is demonstrated. This method is a humane refinement that can decrease the confounding effects of stress on experimental parameters.

Medicine

Acclimation Prior to an Intraperitoneal Insulin Tolerance Test to Mitigate Stress-Induced Hyperglycemia in Conscious Mice

Rebecca L. Hull^1,2, Daryl J. Hackney¹, Elizabeth L. Giering^1,2, Sakeneh Zraika^1,2

¹Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, ²Department of Medicine, University of Washington

Stress-induced elevations in glucose levels can confound interpretation of data derived from a conscious intraperitoneal insulin tolerance test in mice. In this article, we describe a method to acclimate the mice to handling, injections and blood sampling prior to performing the insulin tolerance test in order to limit stress-induced hyperglycemia.

Medicine

Laser Doppler Perfusion Imaging in the Mouse Hindlimb

Gale L. Tang^1,2, Kevin J. Kim²

¹Division of Vascular Surgery, University of Washington, ²VA Puget Sound Health Care System

Here, we present a protocol that demonstrates the technique and necessary controls for Laser Doppler perfusion imaging to measure blood flow in the mouse hindlimb.

Neuroscience

Modeling Highly Repetitive Low-level Blast Exposure in Mice

Adam Crabtree^*1, Cory McEvoy^*1,2, Peter Muench¹, Rebecca A. Ivory^3,4,5, Josh Rodriguez⁵, Mohamed Omer⁵, Trinity Charles⁵, James S. Meabon^5,6

¹United States Army Special Operations Command, ²CU Anschutz Center for COMBAT Research, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, ³University of Washington School of Nursing, ⁴University of Delaware School of Nursing, ⁵Veterans Affairs Northwest Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA Puget Sound Health Care System, ⁶Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine

Presented here are methods for producing repeated low-intensity blast exposures using mice.