Volume I - Section I - Introduction 
Page 1-23 
P.C. Harrison, G. L. Riskowski, R.G. Magghirang, and J.S. Mckee: Effect of Diet on Metabolism 
of Laboratory Rats, Final Report Submitted to NASA, Department of Animal Science University 
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1995. 
The study reported a mean evaporative water loss of 5.03 gH20/kg/hr at 22°C. 
C.J. Gordon: Relationship Between Preferred Ambient Temperature and Autonomic 
Thermoregulatory Function in Rats, Am. J. Physiol., 252:rl 130-1137, 1987. 
The most prominent effects on evaporative water loss occurred when temperature was 
elevated above 30 °C for rats. The temperature ranges studied ranged from 14 to 34 °C. 
He measured values of evaporative water loss of 1.2, 1.5, and 1.8 mg H 2 O/ 1 T 1 LO 2 at 16, 
22, and 30°C, respectively. 
Note: 
• The difference in the values in the above studies reflects the importance of how the 
body fluids were handled. Gordon (1987) had a pan filled with oil below the rats to 
collect all the waste and prevent any of that moisture from getting into the air. The oil in 
the Liu (1996) study formed only a thin layer over water and may not have been sufficient 
to stop moisture evaporation from both drinking water spills and body fluids voided into 
the air. 
• Schmidt-Nielsen. gives a value for the albino mouse at “laboratory temperature” of 0.85 
mg water per ml oxygen consumed. This is equivalent to 3.06 g water/kg/hr. Schmidt- 
Nielsen, B. and Schmidt-Nielsen, K. Pulmonary Water Loss in Desert Rodents. Am. J. 
Physiol. 162,31-36, 1950. 
M.A. Chappell and D.S. Holsclaw, III: Effects of Wind on Thermoregulation and Energy Balance 
in Deer Mice (Peromyscus Maniculatus), J. Comp. Physiol., B 154:619-625, 1984. 
In studies of wind effects on deer mice, evaporative water loss at 30 and 35 °C indicated 
that evaporative water loss increased with increasing temperature, and wind speed from 
0.05 to 3.75 m/s had little effect at 30 °C while an increase in air velocity increased 
moisture production at 35 °C. 
T. M. Lin, Y.F. Chem, G.G. Liu, and T.C. Chang: Studies on Thermoregulation in the Rats, Proc. 
Natl. Sci. Counc., ROC, 2:46-52, 1979; D.M. Tennent: A Study of the Water Losses through the 
Skin in the Rat, Am. J. Physiol., 145:436-440, 1946. 
