Optimizing Experimental Design Using the House Mouse (Mus musculus L.) as a Model for Determining Grain Feeding Preferences

There is little research evaluating flavor preferences among wheat varieties. We previously demonstrated that mice exert very strong preferences when given binary mixtures of wheat varieties. We plan to utilize mice to identify wheat genes associated with flavor, and then relate this back to human p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of food science 2013-10, Vol.78 (10), p.S1614-S1620
Main Authors: Fuerst, E. Patrick, Morris, Craig F., Dasgupta, Nairanjana, McLean, Derek J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Binary mixtures
Biological and medical sciences
experimental efficiency
Feeding
feeding preferences
Female
Flavors
Flavours
Food industries
Food science
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
grain
Grains
house mouse
Labor
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Models, Animal
Preferences
Research Design
Rodents
Taste - physiology
Triticum - chemistry
Wheat
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Summary:There is little research evaluating flavor preferences among wheat varieties. We previously demonstrated that mice exert very strong preferences when given binary mixtures of wheat varieties. We plan to utilize mice to identify wheat genes associated with flavor, and then relate this back to human preferences. Here we explore the effects of experimental design including the number of days (from 1 to 4) and number of mice (from 2 to 15) in order to identify designs that provide significant statistical inferences while minimizing requirements for labor and animals. When mice expressed a significant preference between 2 wheat varieties, increasing the number of days (for a given number of mice) increased the significance level (decreased P‐values) for their preference, as expected, but with diminishing benefit as more days were added. However, increasing the number of mice (for a given number of days) provided a more dramatic log‐linear decrease in P‐values and thus increased statistical power. In conclusion, when evaluating mouse feeding preferences in binary mixtures of grain, an efficient experimental design would emphasize fewer days rather than fewer animals thus shortening the experiment duration and reducing the overall requirement for labor and animals. Practical Application We are developing a mouse model for flavor differences of grain among different wheat varieties.
ISSN:0022-1147
1750-3841
DOI:10.1111/1750-3841.12245