Objective
The focus of this research has been to develop new techniques for the quantification of energy metabolism in undisturbed animals and humans, using a combination of stable isotopes and microelectronics. A number of methods have been investigated and the results, to date, are summarized:
An infrared laser technique has been developed to determine isotope ratios (deuterium to protium; oxygen-18 to oxygen-16) in blood samples (Centre National de las Recherche Scientifique Strasbourgh: Centre d'Ecologie et Physiologie Energetiques [CNRS/CEPE] and Centre de Recherche Nucleaires [CNRS/CRN] in collaboration with the Muetek Company, Germany). A new prototype installed in Strasbourg has proved satisfactory in calculating the ratio of the oxygen isotopes, however further work is required to calculate the ratio of deuterium to protium and to improve accuracy.
At CNRS/CEPE 2 major techniques have been developed involving microelectronics. The first uses satellite tracking of animals to which special transponders have been attached. The technique has been used successfully in tracking movements of Emperor Penguins in the Antarctic winter to places with open water. The second technique is a computerized identification system which has successfully been employed in identifying individual King Penguins in a large breeding colony. The colony is surrounded by a fence with only 1 entrance, each bird is identified by an implanted transponders. An automatic weighing device permits the monitoring of the body mass of each penguin as returns from the ocean to feed young and when it returns to the ocean to feed.
A new preparation system has been developed (at Centre for Isotope Research, University of Groningen [C10]) in order to measure accurately isotope ratios of oxygen-18 to oxygen-16 and of deuterium to protium in large samples of blood. This method has been used in the study of Rhesus Monkeys and in determining oxygen isotope ratios in preterm babies.
A new sample preparati on system has been developed at C10 which allows the measurement of carbon-13 to carbon-12 isotope ratios in tissue, urine and carbon dioxide gas, and the determination of nitrogen-13 to nitrogen-14 isotope ratios in urine.
A non-invasive technique is under development (at the Zoological Laboratory [ZL], University of Groningen) for determination of body composition based on the Harker Principle. A new prototype is currently being tested and preliminary results show that it is functioning properly for animals weighing 100 to 300 g.
By labeling the body water of living organisms with the stable isotopes 18O and 2H total CO2 production can be estimated over a period of one to several days. This non-invasive and non-restraining method gives new opportunities to study normal behaviour and physiology of animals and humans. Combination of this method with micro-electronical recording of heart rate, body temperature and telemetric controlled blood sampling, to describe the dynamics of plasma levels of hormones and metabolites, will be developed. In a step-wise program we will develop and combine these techniques to gather detailed information on metabolism and behaviour in species that otherwise could not have been studied in this detail.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering vehicle engineering aerospace engineering satellite technology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology
- natural sciences physical sciences electromagnetism and electronics microelectronics
- natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics
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Coordinator
9700 AB Groningen
Netherlands
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