IMPLANTABLE WIRELESS TELEMETRIC MONITORING DEVICE FOR AGING STUDIES IN MICE

Indus Instruments, Houston TX

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

TITLE: Implantable Wireless Telemetric Monitoring Device For Aging Studies In Mice. ABSTRACT There has been a dramatic growth in aging research particularly using small animals such as mice to find translatable solutions to improve the health span as we age. While undisturbed and non-tethered acquisition of physiologic data in awake mice using implantable wireless telemetry technologies reflects the most realistic way of studying physiological function, devices currently available in the marketplace operate at most for a few months and are not thus suitable for longitudinal studies that can last up to the 24-30 month lifespan of a mouse. Furthermore, existing devices do not measure gait speed, a key component of the assessment of frailty, and respiratory effort, a surrogate for tidal volume. Our overall goal is to develop an implantable wireless telemetric monitoring device for aging studies in mice. We hypothesize that longitudinal studies in mice using non-disruptive telemetric monitoring implants will reveal resilience, vulnerability, and decrements in physiologic reserves with aging, long before we can detect them with static measures/tests. In a prior NIH funded project we developed telemetric implants (Indus Instruments, Small Animal Implantable Telemetry) that can record ECG, estimate heart rate, and measure temperature and physical activity in mice. We will augment the functionality of these existing devices by adding gait speed measurement and respiration rate/effort measurement with the following specific aims: 1) Aim 1: Develop implantable telemetric gait speed measurement and validate against video monitoring, 2) Aim 2: Develop implantable respiratory rate & effort measurements and validate against surface electrode impedance pneumography, 3) Aim 3: Conduct 3 month undisturbed telemetric monitoring studies in mice. During phase II we will refine the devices further, manufacture 100+ telemeters, conduct long term studies in 96 mice to monitor changes in gait speed and respiration rate/effort in aging mice subject to the following challenges: exercise, thermal stress, water deprivation, CO2 exposure, and sleep deprivation. The end results of the proposed project will be: A) Rodent implantable sensors for monitoring aging specific physiological parameters manufactured by us and available for sale to researchers through our worldwide distribution network, B) Data analysis algorithms and surgical techniques disseminated to the research community in publications, online documents, webinars, and trade show presentations, and C) A database of physiological parameters recorded longitudinally in up to 96 rodents made available freely in open source data format for download and analysis by other researchers.