Inbred mouse strain survey of sucrose intake

Mouse strain differences for intake of sucrose and saccharin have been reported across studies, and some of these differences have been related to variants of the Tas1r3 taste receptor gene. However, several methodological concerns remain, including use of relatively few strains and/or a limited number of palatable concentrations in previous analyses. The present study examined strain differences in sucrose intake among 11 inbred (A/J, AKR/J, BALB/cJ, CBA/J, C3H/HeJ, C57BL6/J, C57BL10/J, DBA/2J, SJL/J, SWR/J, 129P3/J) and one outbred (CD-1) mouse strains across nine different sucrose concentrations (0.0001-20%) using two-bottle 24-h preference tests which controlled for sucrose concentration presentation effects, sucrose and water bottle positions, and measurement of kilocalorie intake as sucrose or chow. A/J, C57BL/6J, CD-1 and SWR/J strains consumed the greatest (11.6-22 ml) amount of sucrose, whereas the A/J, C57BL/10J, SJL/J and SWR/J strains consumed the greatest (44-56%) percentages of kilocalories as sucrose. The AKR/J, CBA/J, C3H/HeJ and DBA/2J strains consumed the least (6.9-7.9 ml) amount of sucrose, and displayed lower (20-30%) percentages of kilocalories consumed as sucrose. Whereas A/J, C57BL/6J, C57BL/10J, CD-1, SWR/J and SJL/J strains all displayed the most pronounced compensatory decreases in chow intake as the percentage of kilocalories consumed as sucrose increased, the AKR/J, C3H/HeJ and DBA/2J strains failed to significantly alter chow intake even at high sucrose concentrations. There was a paucity of significant correlations in the percentage of sucrose intake between sucrose concentrations, but percentage of sucrose intake at lower concentrations did correlate with previous descriptions of saccharin intake and variants of the Tas1r3 taste receptor gene. These data demonstrate clear mouse strain differences across a range of measures in sucrose intake across a wide range of concentrations, but caution against extrapolating between extremely high and low concentrations. The identification of strains with diverging abilities to regulate kilocalorie intake when presented with high sucrose concentrations may lead to the successful QTL mapping of this trait.