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Analysis of Thermogenesis Experiments with CalR

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Brown Adipose Tissue

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2448))

Abstract

Modern indirect calorimetry systems allow for high-frequency time series measurements of the factors affected by thermogenesis: energy intake and energy expenditure. These indirect calorimetry systems generate a flood of raw data recording oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, physical activity, and food intake among other factors. Analysis of these data requires time-consuming manual manipulation for formatting, data cleaning, quality control, and visualization. Beyond data handling, analyses of indirect calorimetry experiments require specialized statistical treatment to account for differential contributions of fat mass and lean mass to metabolic rates.

Here we describe how to use the software package CalR version 1.2, to analyze indirect calorimetry data from three examples of thermogenesis, cold exposure, adrenergic agonism, and hyperthyroidism in mice, by providing standardized methods for reproducible research. CalR is a free online tool with an easy-to-use graphical user interface to import data files from the Columbus Instruments’ CLAMS, Sable Systems’ Promethion, and TSE Systems’ PhenoMaster. Once loaded, CalR can quickly visualize experimental results and perform basic statistical analyses. We present a framework that standardizes the data structures and analyses of indirect calorimetry experiments to provide reusable and reproducible methods for the physiological data affecting body weight.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Randall Friedline and Jason Kim from UMass for help with generating the TSE export figure. Funding was provided to ASB by NIH DK107717, OD028635, and the Harvard Digestive Disease Center. We are grateful to the R programming team and those who have generously developed packages to assist others. The CalR analysis program has used many of these tools. [21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Marissa D. Cortopassi, Deepti Ramachandran, William B. Rubio & Alexander S. Banks

  2. Department of Neurobiology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Daniel Hochbaum & Bernardo L. Sabatini

Authors
  1. Marissa D. Cortopassi
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  2. Deepti Ramachandran
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  3. William B. Rubio
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  4. Daniel Hochbaum
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  5. Bernardo L. Sabatini
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  6. Alexander S. Banks
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander S. Banks .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Molecular Medicine, UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA

    David A. Guertin

  2. ETH Zürich, Schwerzenbach, Zürich, Switzerland

    Christian Wolfrum

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© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Cortopassi, M.D., Ramachandran, D., Rubio, W.B., Hochbaum, D., Sabatini, B.L., Banks, A.S. (2022). Analysis of Thermogenesis Experiments with CalR. In: Guertin, D.A., Wolfrum, C. (eds) Brown Adipose Tissue. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2448. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2087-8_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2087-8_3

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-2086-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-2087-8

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