Monitoring Mouse Surface Temperature During Stress with a Thermal Camera: A Low-Cost Infrared Videography System for Evaluating Murine Metabolism

Abstract

Energy is required for life, and organisms obtain their energy from fuel sources to enable both anabolic and catabolic processes. Some of this energy is radiated as heat, which can be quantified as a measure of metabolic rate. In some cases, environmental toxicants can alter metabolic energy in undesirable ways, and characterization of new pharmaceuticals can determine the efficacy of desirable metabolic rate manipulation or identify off-target adverse effects. Current methods to directly measure heat production in laboratory mice are expensive, can be laborious, and make it challenging to monitor animals in ways that are multiplexed, robust, and non-invasive. We present a set of protocols for assembling and deploying a simple, low-cost thermal camera to monitor and record thermogenic activity, modified from prior work. Parts used to build this system currently cost approximately $150 USD and, when assembled, can record mouse temperatures as well as ambient cage temperatures up to twice per second for extended periods. By using multiplexed cameras in a diurnal mouse incubator system, the thermogenic capacity of several mice can be simultaneously recorded and graphed. Exogenous agents and genotypes that alter metabolism can be readily identified with this technology. In this set of protocols, we describe the assembly of the thermal video camera device, its use, and related data capture and analysis methods. © 2025 The Author(s). Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Basic Protocol 1: Assembling thermal camera for thermogenic stress test

Basic Protocol 2: In vivo measurement of mouse temperature under different ambient conditions