Journal of comparative physiology

, Volume 98, Issue 2, pp 161–168 | Cite as

The effect of short daily cold exposures on development of brown adipose tissue in mice

  • Gerhard Heldmaier
Article

Summary

The present results demonstrate that short daily cold exposures induce growth of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in mice. 2.5 h daily cold exposure has a similar effect on growth of BAT as a chronic exposure to the same low ambient temperature. 5 h daily cold exposure are an even more effective stimulus for growth of BAT. BAT cells from short daily cold exposed mice contain a small amount of cytoplasm and a large amount of fat, concentrated in a single fat vacuole, quite in contrast to the multilocular BAT cells from mice living at thermoneutrality or continuously in the cold. This suggests a different thermogenic function of BAT in short daily cold exposed mice, as compared with the role of BAT in chronically cold exposed mice.

Keywords

Adipose Tissue Ambient Temperature Human Physiology Chronic Exposure Brown Adipose Tissue 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1975

Authors and Affiliations

  • Gerhard Heldmaier
    • 1
    • 2
  1. 1.ARC Institute of Animal PhysiologyCambridgeEngland
  2. 2.Max-Planck-Institut für VerhaltensphysiologieErling-AndechsGermany

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