Metabolism and Metabolic Health Core

ABSTRACT—METABOLISM AND METABOLIC HEALTH (MMH) CORE Investigators interested in mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of obesity, diabetes and related metabolic diseases will benefit from a comprehensive analysis of components regulating energy balance, macronutrient combustion and metabolism in live animals. Simple tests that compare food intake to weight gain, or that measure metabolically-relevant analytes from a single static condition, fail to fully capture nuanced bioenergetic and metabolic phenotypes, changes in feeding behaviors, or alterations of body composition. Therefore, the Metabolism and Metabolic Health (MMH) Core has been designed and structured to provide investigators with expert consultation, state-of-the-art instrumentation, and technical support to assess—in live mice—energy balance, energy intake (EI) and digestion, energy expenditure (EE), metabolic efficiency, EI-EE coupling phenotypes, macronutrient metabolism, hormone action and secretion, body/tissue composition, and associations with the microbiome and xenometabolome. The MMH Core will be service-oriented, client-facing, and research-supportive. The MMH Core will be staffed by a Leader, co-Leader, Core Coordinator, Technical Specialists, and 5 Scientific Consultants. The mission of the MMH Core will be accomplished through the following 2 Specific Aims: Specific Aim 1: Provide clients with innovative and unique assets and approaches to deeply- characterize key nodes involved with energy balance, food intake, glucose and triglyceride metabolism, metabolic hormone sensitivity, body composition and gut microbiota metabolism in live mice. Specific Aim 2: Provide clients with consultation services focused on study design and interpretation of results in the areas of metabolic physiology, obesity, and diabetes. Under these specific aims, the MMH Core will carry out the following activities: • Providing acute, mid, and long -term assessments of EI and sensitivity to EI-regulating hormones in male and female mice as models of diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic disorders; • Offering a battery of bioenergetics and EE tests, including RER complex pattern and frequency analysis, EE-EI coupling as a measure of energy balance regulation, and characterization of TNZ and TNP, including under temperature extremes, norepinephrine, exercise, or timed meal challenges; • Conducting analyses of body composition by EchoMRI and PixiMus DEXA and studies of macronutrient metabolism via glucose and insulin tolerance tests, continuous glucose monitoring, and hepatic triglyceride production; • Providing innovative and unique services to assess the microbiome and xenometabolome, metabolic and feeding efficiency, and whole-body imaging to complement services obtained from the PB Core; • Assisting investigators to generate high-quality and reproducible research results for publications, pilot data for grant proposals, and preclinical findings to inform human clinical trials; • Being flexible and responsive to user requests for new and customizable assays and procedures; • Participating in the Vibrant Program to assist and train a new generation of scientists with a tailored focus toward underrepresented investigators and increasing diversity in biomedical research Through their previous association with the MMPC, the investigators participating in the MMH Core have proven expertise and capabilities in the study of energy metabolism, bioenergetics, body composition, glucose and lipid homeostasis, food intake, metabolomics, and gut microbiota in live mice. When coupled with state-of- the-art equipment, facilities, and core analytical labs at UC Davis, the MMH Core will be a unique and highly- impactful scientific asset to national investigators interested in metabolic physiology and the pathophysiology of diabetes and obesity.