Continuous and non-invasive thermography of mouse skin accurately describes core body temperature patterns, but not absolute core temperature

TY - JOUR

T1 - Continuous and non-invasive thermography of mouse skin accurately describes core body temperature patterns, but not absolute core temperature

AU - van der Vinne, Vincent

AU - Pothecary, Carina A.

AU - Wilcox, Sian L.

AU - McKillop, Laura E.

AU - Benson, Lindsay A.

AU - Kolpakova, Jenya

AU - Tam, Shu K. E.

AU - Krone, Lukas B.

AU - Fisk, Angus S.

AU - Wilson, Tatiana S.

AU - Yamagata, Tomoko

AU - Cantley, James

AU - Vyazovskiy, Vladyslav V.

AU - Peirson, Stuart N.

N1 - Funding Novo Nordisk Wellcome (WT106174/Z/14/Z) National Centre for the Replacement Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC/S001689/1) National Institutes of Health (AA0278707) Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/I021086/1)

PY - 2020/11/26

Y1 - 2020/11/26

N2 - Body temperature is an important physiological parameter in many studies of laboratory mice. Continuous assessment of body temperature has traditionally required surgical implantation of a telemeter, but this invasive procedure adversely impacts animal welfare. Near-infrared thermography provides a non-invasive alternative by continuously measuring the highest temperature on the outside of the body (Tskin), but the reliability of these recordings as a proxy for continuous core body temperature (Tcore) measurements has not been assessed. Here, Tcore (30 s resolution) and Tskin (1 s resolution) were continuously measured for three days in mice exposed to ad libitum and restricted feeding conditions. We subsequently developed an algorithm that optimised the reliability of a Tskin-derived estimate of Tcore. This identified the average of the maximum Tskin per minute over a 30-min interval as the optimal way to estimate Tcore. Subsequent validation analyses did however demonstrate that this Tskin-derived proxy did not provide a reliable estimate of the absolute Tcore due to the high between-animal variability in the relationship between Tskin and Tcore. Conversely, validation showed that Tskin-derived estimates of Tcore reliably describe temporal patterns in physiologically-relevant Tcore changes and provide an excellent measure to perform within-animal comparisons of relative changes in Tcore.

AB - Body temperature is an important physiological parameter in many studies of laboratory mice. Continuous assessment of body temperature has traditionally required surgical implantation of a telemeter, but this invasive procedure adversely impacts animal welfare. Near-infrared thermography provides a non-invasive alternative by continuously measuring the highest temperature on the outside of the body (Tskin), but the reliability of these recordings as a proxy for continuous core body temperature (Tcore) measurements has not been assessed. Here, Tcore (30 s resolution) and Tskin (1 s resolution) were continuously measured for three days in mice exposed to ad libitum and restricted feeding conditions. We subsequently developed an algorithm that optimised the reliability of a Tskin-derived estimate of Tcore. This identified the average of the maximum Tskin per minute over a 30-min interval as the optimal way to estimate Tcore. Subsequent validation analyses did however demonstrate that this Tskin-derived proxy did not provide a reliable estimate of the absolute Tcore due to the high between-animal variability in the relationship between Tskin and Tcore. Conversely, validation showed that Tskin-derived estimates of Tcore reliably describe temporal patterns in physiologically-relevant Tcore changes and provide an excellent measure to perform within-animal comparisons of relative changes in Tcore.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85096616332

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-020-77786-5

DO - 10.1038/s41598-020-77786-5

M3 - Article

C2 - 33244132

SN - 2045-2322

VL - 10

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

M1 - 20680

ER -