Influence of Strain and Diet on Urinary pH in Laboratory Mice

Acid base homeostasis and urine pH is influenced by the dietary cation anion balance (DCAB) in many species. Here, a negative DCAB acidifies the urine, while higher DCABs alkalize the urine. The dimension of the DCAB effect can be species-specific, because of differences in urine buffer systems. The aim of the present study was to describe the response of laboratory mice to diets with different DCAB. We used 8-week-old wildtype male mice of the C57Bl/6J inbred strain and CD1 outbred stock. Three groups (n = 15 animals/group) were formed and fed standard diet A for adaptation. For the 7-week feeding trial, mice were either kept on diet A (DCAB -7 mmol/kg dry matter (DM) or switched to diet B (246 mmol/kg DM) or C (-257 mmol/kg DM). Urine pH was measured weekly from a pooled sample per cage. There was a significant difference in the basal urine pH on diet A between C57Bl6/J and CD1 mice. The shift in urine pH was also significantly different between the two groups investigated.