Improving Reproducibility to Enhance Scientific Rigor through Consideration of Mouse Diet

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Our current inability as a biomedical field to reproduce and replicate published scientific findings is a major crisis. A contributing factor is lack of reporting of experimental variables in scientific publications. For example, rodent diet is rarely reported unless the research regards a dietary intervention. Our prior research found significant differences in seizure susceptibility and growth anthropometrics in mice as an effect of diet. Herein, we compare growth, behavior and blood biomarkers in male and female mice as an effect of three common rodent diets. We found significant differences in body weight and blood amino acid levels in the most commonly studied strain of mice. These findings contribute to a growing body of knowledge regarding the role of diet in health and disease as well as the need for detailed reporting of experimental variables, including diet, in scientific publications and presentations. ABSTRACT: Animal husbandry conditions, including rodent diet, constitute an example highlighting the importance of reporting experimental variables to enhance scientific rigor. In the present study, we examine the effects of three common rodent diets including two chows (Purina 5015 and Teklad 2019) and one purified ingredient diet (AIN-76A) on growth anthropometrics (body weight), behavior (nest building, actigraphy, passive avoidance) and blood biomarkers (ketones, glucose, amino acid profiles) in male and female C57BL/6J mice. We find increased body weight in response to the chows compared to purified ingredient diet albeit selectively in male mice. We did not find significantly altered behavior in female or male wild type C57BL/6J mice. However, amino acid profiles changed as an effect of sex and diet. These data contribute to a growing body of knowledge indicating that rodent diet impacts experimental outcomes and needs to be considered in study design and reporting.