Semipurified diet effect on adult pocket mic

Ostwald, R.

Spiller, G. A.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

. . .  
Developnent of 8 Senipurified Diet for t.he ACuLt 
? o z ~ ~ e t  ~ o u s e  (Perogmtkds 1' 
A. 
GPO PRICE $ 
CFSTI PRICE(S) $ 
Hard copy (HC) % {rn 
Microfiche (MF) i 6s' 
ff 653 Julv 66 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19680007148 2020-03-12T09:20:49+00:00Z
2* 
The pocket mouse (Perogmthual ia one of the smallest knom maranals, 
and is typ ica l  of e. group of desert rodents that do not drink water. 
Because of their small size ,  their abi l i ty  t o  survive for long periods of 
time on dry food (l), their resistance t o  radiation (2) and t h e i r  a b i l i t y  
to hibernate and est ivete(3) ,  these aniclals are of great in te reo t  to the 
physiologist and biologist. 
s i iw i l i en  physiology i n  long space f l i gh t s ,  for undersknding n3ny aspects 
of the  cor~t ro l  mechenism of hibermtion and for studies of electrolyte and 
They m y  be suitable tools for  the study of 
water econozy. 
Because it produces only 3 ~ ~ 1 1  mo-m~ts of' excreta, t h i 6  a n b n l  is 
except iomlly clean, i n  easy t o  h-,nd;iLe i n  a laboratory, an8 requires 
minfnm care. Most Inbontor ieo (1,b) m i n t s i n  these anim=11~ and related 
deaert roJJents on mixkres of dry seeds. A?parcntly no semimifird die t  
has been devclopzd for t h m ,  acd no report  has c ~ m e  t o  oar attsr,.icn 
regarding t h e i r  n u t r i t i o m l  requimmcnts . 
diet adequlat,c for reprodxt ion ,  growth xcd m i n t c n s n z e  of' the  pocket mouse 
appmrs necesssry bzfore m s t  of the ~tv.dic~s otltlircd &ovc CP.i? be unilert&en. 
Recently, Zemn (5)  devclo2ed a 6cnipx=ificd diet  for the Nongolian Gerbil 
(Fkriooes - u n ~ a i c u l s ? x s  ), but our studies indicate that  t'ne nlxtritional 
reqnirencnts of the  pocket nouse d l f f e r  froa those of t h a t  roclcnt. 
!&e d e v d o p x s t  oz" a nerilipwtfied 
Zn t h i s  comunfcation wz are describins a diet  a d e c p t c  f o r  mintenznce 
of adult pocket rxtce, toselh2r with cei-tain w.ususl rcineral re.L?;ulri:.uits 
of the  anincsl, found &ring dcvclnE?nt of the diet. 
MEXiiOiE A I D  EXXLTS 
V a l e  and feimle adult pocket vice of two cu5spacies HhrE uscd in GW 
experiments, a l l  t r a p p d  in the Sonora desert region of the United States:  
Fkrogmthus penicillatus' (weight a t  maturity, 15-25 g; trapped i n  the high 
desert around Tucson, Arizom, elevation 3,000 f t )  and - P. longimembris' (weight 
at maturity, 7-11 8; trapped i n  Antelope Valley, California, elevation 3,000 ft). 
me mice were kept i n  the hbora tory  for at least 30 days after arrival, 
on a nixturs of seeds t h a t  had proved ss t i s fac tory  for their naintemnce 
(1,k). 
seeds and oats. Some f r e sh  carrots end le t tuce  were added tvice a week. 
The mixture is mdc of equal par t s  of sunflower seeds, m i l l e t ,  canary 
The animals were housed either i n  ons-gallon, clear glass jars$ with 
perforated tops, or In p las t i c  cages4 with screen tops. 
jar or cage was covered wi th  I to&inches of washed sand5 ana a mall =her 
jar was provided f o r  a neat.  
essential f o r  the z r d l  being of the anlrrzls. 
provided monthly. The ~zninals have t o  be housed ind iv idwl ly  because they 
are very t e r r i t o r i a l ,  and do Rot accept other mice except durir?g e s h w  of 
the female. 
The bottozn of each 
2 
The provision of sand and nest proved t o  be 
Clean cages and sand v2r2 
Lighting i n  the anixml room was kept on a schzilule sbilar t o  the outdoor 
day-and-night cycle, and tenpxatures  vere min"tziined betw~cn 21' and 23'. 
pckret nouse does not handlz powders A l l  diets  had t o  be p l l e t e d .  
or moist mixtures w e l l .  Pellets inch to 13 inches long and a g p x & m t e l y  
8 inch wide proved satisfactory. n e y  vers mdeljry pressing Cie s c t  mixture 
of ingredients through Q large ccxmrcial  Hobart f.!odcl 14-80 neat grinder a d  
drying on screens under an a i r  fan. A l l  diets tisre kept under refrigwa'tion, 
in clcned containers. 
The first. step i n  the develogxent of the d i e t  m s  the attmpt t o  feed 8 
semipurified, pclleted diet used for rc?g&ii- laboratory mS.ce. Table 1 lists 
tize wnposition of t 'nis basal & e t ,  which is a nodificetion of' that dcxr ib?d  
4. 
by B e l l  (6). !@is d i e t  failed. The mice lost  weight very rapidly and 
died unless they were placed back on the etandard seed d i e t  before the 
weight loss reached about 258 of t h e i r  o r ig ina l  body weight (table 2). 
Various modifications were tried, t o  f ind  out which portion of the d i e t  
was causing the  problem. 
f'olloving chaxes: increases of fat ,  protein o r  vltamin content, decreases of fiber 
o r  mineral content, replacement of casein by soy protein, of corn o i l  by 
sunflover oil, of cornstarch by glucose, or of sucrose by cornstarch. 
the modified d ie t s  failed. 
Diets w r e  prepared containing one of the 
A l l  of 
l?bcn, howsver, the basal d i e t  was suppleacrited with  frmh carrota ad 
k'c ere assminz t h z t  the carrots  served as l ibi tmi ,  the mice did well. 
a vehich of' water becawe carrots, extracted with petroleur.1 ether end 
water and autoclaved t o  rerave as may of the micronutrients as possible, 
served es w 1 L  as untren-Led carrots. 
i n  inproving the pwformncc of the basal. d i e t  t o  any noticea3le extent. 
!he  addition of 5 t o  10; carAwt powder t o  th2  bas21 d i e t  vas also inaffcctive.  
Only va-y large nxiounts of csrrot  puvder (approximtely 50% of t he  d i e t )  tiere 
effect ive.  
t h a t  of the oriGinal, th2-L it  cail no Lonzer be coasidered as Liodification of 
the bacal die t .  
L p p h i l i z r ? d  carrots  MWC i r - f rec t ivz  
Tie cocgos2tion of this d i e t  N 3 S J  hovever, SO di f fe ren t  f r o 3  
part of the basal diet  ( tab le  1) with the other  ingredients l e f t  unchanged. 
The diets containing the fat extract ( f rac t ion  1) instead of corn o i l ,  
and in which casein was replaced by the protein ( f rac t ion  4), f a i l ed .  
residue of the f8t extraction, both before and after heat treatment (fract ions 
2 and 3), produced a very satisfactory die t  when used i n  the basal diet. 
Ash,(fraction 5 )  used at a l eve l  of 55 in place of thz or ig ina l  salt nix, 
p,-oduced a d i e t  t h a t  was more sat isfactory than the basal d i e t .  
did fairly well on th i s  diet for two or three tlhes a s  long as on the basal 
The 
The animals 
I 
diet, but a f t e r  7 to 10 weeks, t h i s  d ie t  also fa i l ed .  
that t he  mineral canposition of t h e  diet  was responsible for its SUCCESB o r  
failure. 
These resu l t s  indicated 
An analysis of the sunflower meal showed thst the seeds have a high 
potassim and EL loir sodim content, afi3 contain a large amymt of mesriesimi 
and l i t t l e  calcium as coqxired with Bell's EOUSC d i e t .  !be tots1 phosphorus 
i s  also quite  high (tzble 3) .  
Salt mixes i n i t s t i n g  this  rx&ural d n e r a l  cozpositton were prqared ,  
and used i n  t h e  basal diet  (table 4).  Even thou$ the  correct X/m ard 
&/Ca ratios and concentrztions, as well as a high percentage of phosphorus 
were used, weight losses turd death occ-mred in the s m e  H a y  as w i t h  t h e  
basal d ie t .  
&!?(!- i l l c - ; A  
Various modifications of the &?e8 described i n  tzble 4 were t r i ed .  
The ra t io s  and concentrations of calcPa~, magnesim, potassiun and sodiun 
were varied and d i f fe ren t  progortions of chlorides, sulfates 2nd c i t r a t e s  
wers used, ALL these nodificalions fa i led.  
Final ly  succesF was achieved when the inorgsnic phosphates were 
replaced by orgmic phosphates in the  f o r a  of glycerophosphates of c a l c i m  
6. 
magnesium and sodim. 
Table 5 shows the c a p o s i t i o n  of the d i e t  tha t  has proved successful 
i n  naintaining weight, good appearance and a normal beliavioral pattern i n  
adult - P. penfc i l la tus  and - P. loz&zinernbria. 
on t h i s  diet i n  o w  laboratory for over 6 Eonths. 
Over 100 animals have been kept 
Two graups of ani rs l s ,  one on the seed diet and one on the sernipwifie8 
diet,  were autopsied after 2 mnths.  
was nomal, and organ size XG the s a w  i n  the  two groups (table 6). 
me gms3 ~ppesrnace of L Ie  organs 
Hcroscopic examin~tio:i shared t h s t  the  kidmy, liver and intestirxd. raucosa 
of animals i n  both groups w m e  histologically essentielly nopal. 
analyses of 'the carcasse3 showed t h c t  the a n i r a l o  i n  these two groups did not 
differ i n  respec t  t.o moisture, protein, f a t  end ash con tmt  (MDle 6). 
rather great variability of fat and moisture contznt u i th in  each group vas 
coted, which vas due t o  EL higher fat  and lover noistuxe conteat in the 
fmales coTpred wfth the  males. 
me 
A 
DISCUSSTO3 
Although the diet we have described apixars t o  be adcq-uatz f o r  the 
smintemnce of adu l t  P~roJ'nat~~~s,prelimi~~r;r results indicate  that  it is 
not adequate t o  s u 2 ~ ~ r - t  growth without sv.Fplexentation w i t ? ?  l e t t uce  and 
carrots. 
t o  b,o necessary for  weanling Perczmthus. 
These sq?plemcnts probably provide a GOUTCB of lraLei* which appmrs 
We hzve U n i t e d  o m  stcdies t o  %!le use of glyceroc3oap5ates a3 they 
are eas i ly  amilab3.e anJ the p p c s e  cf this research tias to dwelop 2 
p m c t i c a l  d i e t .  
inositols, m y  or nay no t  'be equ3lly cffective. 
Other orzmic phosphztes, such as the calciux m d  r:n~;nesfurn 
We Eo not yet L,nov *&y a3ul.t _I- Ftlm::T?zt,k.s can thr ive  on a diet c o n t e i n i r i  
8 
calcium and magnesium as glycerophosphates, bu3 not on f n e  ~ r m e  d i e t  with 
these m i n e n l s  present as inorganic salts. 
minerals-calcium, magnesiuin o r  phosphorus-is responsible for the d i f f icu l ty .  
Nor 5s it clear which of the  
Tbe results obtained when carrots were added t o  the  othemise lethal 
basal. d i e t  suggest two possible a l t e r m t e  explanations. 
one of them) in the form of glycerophosphates m y  be more readily 
t o  the animals in the absence of water than are inorganic s ~ l t s ,  and the 
addit ional  moisture in the carrots m y  increase the availability of the 
inorGanic ssltJs. Alternstely, too much of the minerals m y  be Bbsorbed 
when they are present i n  the inorganic form, and the mice my be able t o  
u t i l i z e  o r  excrete tk,e exesss only in the presence of add i t ioml  rrzter. 
Expzriments are now under way to study these prablems, 
The minerals ( o r  
awilable 
The authors wish to than Nrs. Briny T h m s  and Mr. C de Forest for their 
assistance vith the care of the anizials, preparation of diets and autopsy 
procedures, Mr. W. Ymanaka for  the histological examination of the organs, 
and Mliss &le Light fo r  the carcass onslyses. 
. .  
( '  . 
.*  LITERATURF: CITED . -  
: .l. Schmid s t r i a l  animals i n  dry hea t :  d e s e r t  rodents .  
y, Sect ion 4, Adaptation t o  environment. h e r .  * ,  
I .  
. .  I a y s i o l . '  soc., was D. C. p.  493-507. c .  Y- 
2. Gambino, J. J., R.  G. Lindberg and P. Hayden 1964 A search fo r  mechanism 
. .  
of r ad ia t ion  r e s i s t ance  i n  pocket mice. 
Northrop Space Lab., Hawthorne, Calif .  p. 1-25. 
Progress r epor t  - NSL 64-29-5. 
I 
3. Kayser, C.  1961 The physiology of hibernat ion.  Pergamanon Press ,  
New York, p.  28. 
4. Lindberg, R. J., and J. J. Gambino 1964 The e f f e c t s  of prolonged 
o r b i t a l  f l i g h t  on the circadian rhythm of pocket mice. Progress r epor t  
NSL 64-29-5. Northrop Space Lab., Hawthrone, C a l i f .  p. 113. 
5. Zeman, F. J. 1967 A semipurified d i e t  f o r  t he  Mongolian g e r b i l  
(Meriones unguiculatus 1. J. Nutr.,  - 91: 415. 
6. B e l l ,  M. J. 1962 Nutr ient  requirements of the  labora tory  nLause. 
I n :  Nutr ient  requirements of Laboratory animals. Nat ional  Research 
Council F'ubl. 990. Washington, D.  C. p.  39-49. 
! 
! 
. ' f '  ,; . i 
:.?*'Supported in part by 1IAS.A G r e n t  NGE 05-003-118. 
I ,  
a 
B 
Supplied by The Pet Coral, 4J+6 Oracle Road, Tucson, Arizona. 
Supplied by Ernest Carl, 38960 Yucca Wee Stree t ,  Palmdale, California. 
Scientific Products Ccxpsny, Eenlo h r k ,  California. 
Del Konte Properties, Pebble Ecach, California. 
ElMolfno Mills, AlhI t iSra ,  California. 
4 
0 
11. 
ABSTWCT A semipurified die t  has been developed for the pocket mouse 
(Perognsthus longimembris and - P. penicillatus ), sua11 desert, rodents 
t ha t  do not drink water. The key difference betveen t h i s  d i e t  and a 
etandard senipurified mouse diet  1s the  rilinelal composition. The 
rat io  of K/P& and Ng/Ca is high and the inorganic phosp3ates are replaced 
by the  calciun, nagnez'xn and sodiun salts of glycerophosphates. 
aOequacy of t h i s  diet. has been ahown by the  iiiaintzriance of 6 i ~ y  1CO 
pocket mice for  6 mnths  without weight loss,  with a noma1 behavioral 
The 
& 
pattern and i n  apparent good health. Carcass cmposi t ion and th2 size 
an8 microscopic appearance of organs were t h e  ssme for anim1.s on this 
diet as compared with aniKals f e d  their custmary mixed seed diet .  
I 
12. 
TABLE 1 
Composition of  basal  diet  
(Nodi f ied  from Bell (6)) 
Ingredient . Vitamins 
g/100 g d i e t  %/lo0 g d i e t  I 
I 
Case in' 22.3 ZnCO, 25.0 I 
Corn starch L4.3 CuSO, (anhydrous) 25.0 
Smrose 5.2 mo4 25.0 
Corn oil 9- 0 K I  5.0 
Fiber2 11.2 Choline chloride 135. Q 
CaHK3, (anhydrous ) 1 . 2  Rib of lavin 0.h 
CaCO, 2.5 Thi a mine h yd r o c hl o r i d  e 0.3 
NaCl 1.3 Niacin 0.3 
KCl 0.l: Pyridoxine hydrochloride 0.1. 
&$O, 7H2 0 0.1 Fol ic  acid 2.5. 
Fe c i t r a t e  0.1 Biotin 0.01 
, 
Inos i to l  0.1 
PAR4 1 . 2  
Pantothenic acid 0 .9  
Menadione 10.0 
DL-,;-Toc oph.?,m,1 acetate 6.0 
Vitamin B, a 
Vitanlin A 
0.5 1,,,0/100 g d i e t  
50 ' IU/lO9 g d ie t  
Vitamin D 20  IU,'lOO .g d ie t  
---I I___._. 
'Vitanin-free casein, General Biochenicals, Chngrin Falls, Ohio. 
'Solka-Floc, B r m n  and Conpsny, 733 Third Avenue, XeTv Yorlc. 
- . 
TABLE 2 
Typical weight l o s s  f w  Pero-gnathus pen ic i l l a tus  and P. - .  -- 
longimnbris on basa l  d i e t  
Species Weight a f t e r  days  on d i e t  
28 - 1 7 l l 1  21 - ( g  1 
P. p e n i c i l l a t w  20.0 16.0 13.8 13.8 died -
- P. longhembris  8.8 8.0 6.2 5.2 died 
Na 
K 
Ca 
& 
Fe 
TASLE 3 
Mineral compositim of sunflower rn:>al ' 
(g/100 Es) 
Ash' Whole meal -
0.2a 0.01 
17.2 0.8 
2 8  0.1 
0.5 10.1 
0.1 0.005 
c1 
so4 
pz 05 
2 0.1 
0.2 
1.9 
'Ash approxixately 5% gf raeal; 
2the cations were determined i n  the ash, the anions 
were determined i n  t h e  Real  bzcause of possfb le  losses 
du r ing  ashing. 
TABLE b 
'Py-pical s a l t  mix used t:, sfiiulate the 
composition of sunflovrer m?al 
(g/100 g diet) 
0.03 
0.20 
1.36 
0.65 
3.1 
Sam trace minerals as in E d l ' s  s a l t  rL-* (Table 1) 
, 
. 
16. 
Coinpm i t i o n  of  semipurif'icd d i c t  f o r  Pzropna thvs --A'--- 
Diet ingredients 
(g / lOO g d i e t )  -
Soy protein' 22.0 
52.2 C m n  starch 
Corn oil 10.0 
Fibera 7.0 
Gum arabic3 . 3.85 
2.9  Vitacdn mk4 
Na-gwerophos pha t e 3  
KC1 
Ca-glyseropho~phate~ 
I.lg-gl3;:: c mpho s &a t e3 
NgS 0, 
Fe-citrate 
0.30 
0. Go 
0.60 
1.M 
0.30 
0. ck 
c 
4 . , -  I . 


Development of a semipurified diet for the adult pocket mouse /Perognathus/

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

NASA Technical Reports Server