Measurement of water consumption is done utilizing a long sipper tube containing the water supply. The sipper tube is connected to precision pressure transducers. As the animal consumes water, pressure produced by the water column becomes lower and measurement of water consumption becomes possible via change in pressure. IR beams are projected side to side of the animal cage. Multiple animal cages can be connected in a system with one computer collecting all of the data.
Cables can be daisy-chained between sensors to minimize wiring.
Proportionally larger cages are available for rats and larger species. Metabolic Cages are also available with exercise wheels. TJL's Neuroscience Mutagenesis Facility will generate, identify, and characterize new mutants in a broad range, areas including motor function, epilepsy, neural-based obesity, hearing, vision, learning, ingestive behaviors, affective disorders, sensorimotor gating, substance abuse, and anxiety. The proposal for the development of these cages as an automated screening tool was based on the simple premise that the detection of aberrations in any complex system is best achieved by simultaneously examining several parameters. The Jackson Laboratory, founded in 1929, is a world leader in mammalian genetics research.