ASGSB 1999 Annual Meeting Abstracts

RODENT FOOD BAR TESTS: NUTRITIONAL ADEQUACY, NUTRITIONAL STABILITY IN STORAGE, AND ANIMAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE BARS. J.E. Barrett, B.P. Dalton, R. Grindeland. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.

The rodent diet was developed in bar form for feeding experimental rats and mice in a microgravity environment. This diet has been successfully used for short duration Shuttle flights, e.g., 7-16 days, and primarily for male rats. It must be determined if the diet is nutritionally adequate for use in long-term studies with adult males and females, pregnant and lactating females, weanlings, and multigenerations of rodents in space. In addition, the bars must be determined to be nutritionally stable during storage, palatable to the animals, and to resist mold growth. To determine nutritional effectiveness of the diet bars, they are being fed to several strains of male and female rats and mice, beginning at about 6 weeks of age. The control diet is standard rodent chow. Food and water intake and animal weights are being monitored for 110 days for experimental and control animals. Blood chemistry and animal organs will be evaluated at the termination of the studies. Preliminary results with adult male and female rats fed food bars indicate no statistical differences in weight gains compared with control rats. However, the experimental animals consume more food and less water than do the controls. Since the food bars contain approximately 25% moisture (several times the level of moisture in the control diet), they are being evaluated for moisture loss when exposed to air. They are being extensively evaluated for nutritional content, and compared with nutritional levels of standard rodent diets. These studies provide baseline data for ground control and space flight rodent studies to be conducted on the International Space Station.

(Supported by NASA: UPN393-25.)

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