Controlled High Gluten Rat and Mouse
A fixed formulation diet for Laboratory Rats and Mice fortified with vitamins and minerals to meet the
requirements of breeding animals after the diet is autoclaved or irradiated.
- All nutritional parameters of this diet meet or exceed the NRC guidelines for Rats and Mice.
- The diet has been designed specifically for non obese diabetic (NOD) mice, keeping gluten content consistently high.
- The only grains included in the ration are maize and lupins. All gluten comes from a semi-refined
wheat gluten - The formulation is designed to be fed ad-lib to rodents of all ages.
- Mammalian and fish meals have been excluded from the diet.
- Total protein content has been increased to 23% as compared to the standard ration of
around 19 – 20%. For mature animals it may be necessary to reduce the total protein specification. This could only be done by reducing the gluten content. - There is a small increase in the energy density of the diet as compared to the standard ration
(14.8 MJ/Kg vs 14.4 MJ/Kg in the standard diet). Again it may be necessary to reduce this for mature animals. This could only be done by reducing gluten content. - The feed is manufactured in a cylindrical form with a diameter of around 12 mm, length is variable from 10 mm to 30 mm. We have found that this form is ideal for overhead hopper feeding, maximizing the ease of handling whilst minimizing fines formation and the risk of bridging in the feed hopper. Pellet strength has been kept lower than conventional pelletised diets. While this leads to a slight increase in transit and storage damage to the diet (fines generation), we have found that juvenile mice often have a lower feed intake on harder pellets.
- The diet is packed in permeable bags suitable for direct loading into an autoclave. It is recommended that the diet be autoclaved at 120o C for 20 minutes with a post autoclaving vacuum drying cycle. Some clumping of the diet can be expected, but the diet clumps can usually be easily broken. Modifying the drying time to leave some residual moisture in the diet can minimize the clumping. Do not autoclave at 135o C as this will result in significant clumping that will be difficult to break.
Keywords: nod mice, nod2,