ClearH2O

Duration Assessment of DietGel 31M & HydroGel

Bilsky LaboratoryUniversity of New England

August 6, 2012

Protocol

• 4 week old male C57BL/6J mice (Jackson Laboratory) were received into the animal facility on June 28th, 2012

• Mice were marked, weighed, and randomly housed 4 per cage into the three treatment groups:

• Control (n=12) – Standard food and water• DietGel 31M (n=12) – DietGel 31M and standard water• HydroGel (n=12) – Standard food and HydroGel

• Mouse were kept in the vivarium under standard housing conditions (temperature 22 ± 2°C and relative humidity between 55-60%)

• Bodyweights were measured once a day to the nearest 0.05 gram at 8 AM for 31 days

• On days 14 and 21 mice were inspected by blinded laboratory personnel for overall health (e.g. coat and typical behavior)

• On day 21 mice were visually inspected for tooth length

• Data shows the average bodyweight of mice on DietGel 31M versus control for 14 days and the average bodyweight of mice on HydroGel versus control for 14 days

• A 2 way ANOVA revealed no statistical significance between the three treatments through the 14 days

DATA: 14 DaysResearcher: Alex Colville and Denise Giuvelis

• Data shows the average bodyweight of both DietGel 31M and HydroGel versus control treatments for the entire 31 day study

• *, **, *** denotes significance after a 2-way ANOVA with p < 0.05, 0.01, and 0.001 respectively

DATA: 31 DaysResearcher: Alex Colville and Denise GiuvelisDates: 6/28-7/28/12

Conclusions: General Health• Blinded observation revealed no difference in appearance of the coat of the mice

or any changes in behavior due to the varying treatment groups

• Due to the hard rodent chow diet being replaced by a soft gel diet, tooth length was monitored

• Tooth length was observed on day 21 and it was determined by a blinded observer that there were no differences between treatment groups