Meeting Abstract

12.11  Monday, Jan. 4  Food Choice in Mice Selectively Bred for High Voluntary Wheel Running ACOSTA, W.*; SCHUTZ, H.; DLUGOSZ, E.M.; MEEK, T.H.; HANNON, R.M; KEENEY, B.K.; RADOJCIC, B.E.; MACIEL, R.C.; GARLAND, T., Jr.; Univ. of California, Riverside wacos001@student.ucr.edu

The human obesity epidemic is growing and many studies are trying to decipher the underlying causes. One main hypotheses emphasizes consumption of a “Western diet” (high in fat and sugar) in combination with a lack of physical activity. We are examining lines of mice bred for high voluntary wheel running (HR lines) in this context. Our previous studies show that mice from the 4 replicate HR lines run, on average, 2.5-3.0-fold more revolutions/day than those from 4 non-selected Control (C) lines, they eat more, have lower body fat, higher endurance capacity, and higher maximal oxygen consumption. In addition, HR females given a high-fat diet while housed without wheel access were unique in that they consumed greater amounts of food, increased home-cage activity, and did not gain weight (Vaanholt et al. 2008 Int. J. Obesity 32:1566-1575). Recently, we have found that providing a Western diet (Harlan Teklad TD.88137 Western Diet, 42% kcal from fat), as opposed to standard chow (Teklad Rodent Diet (W) 8604 14% kcal from fat), can increase daily wheel running by up to 50% in HR males, while having little or no effect on C males (T. H. Meek, J. C. Eisenmann, and T. Garland, Jr., unpublished). The purpose of the present study was to compare dietary choice (Teklad 8604 versus 88137), wheel running, and home-cage activity of HR and C mice when housed with wheel access. We used two experimental groups of mice. The first was tested for two days following the 6-day period of wheel access used to choose breeders in the routine selection protocol. The second was acclimated to wheel access for ~2.5 weeks prior to testing, and was also monitored for home-cage activity. Supported by NSF IOB-0543429.