Predicting percent fat in mice.

Body energy/body weight (ENGY), percent water (WAT%) and proportional weight of the epididymal fat pad (FPAD%) were used as independent variables to predict fat percent (FAT%) in three independent studies with mice. Prediction equations were found to be valid based on the following criteria: 1) high correlations between observed FAT% and predicted fat percent based on prediction equations derived from an independent data set and 2) negligible correlations between predicted fat and FAT% minus predicted fat. Although any two of the independent variable generally provided a better fit than one variable, use of one of the three independent variables is probably sufficient for most applications. Based on the coefficient of determination, ENGY was the best single predictor of FAT% followed by WAT% and FPAD%. However, FPAD% may be most useful in large experiments where a rapid procedure is essential.