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Nonshivering thermogenesis and cold resistance during seasonal acclimatization in the Djungarian hamster

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Summary

Djungarian hamsters,Phodopus sungorus, improved their cold limit during seasonal acclimatization from −24°C in summer to −68°CT a in winter. This was primarily due to an increase in their capacity for nonshivering thermogenesis from 23.4 mW/g in summer to 59.4 mW/g in winter, assisted by an improved utilization of heat in smaller winter acclimatized hamsters. BMR and shivering thermogenesis had only minor effects on seasonal improvements of cold tolerance.

Seasonality was compared between hamsters living in natural photoperiod inside at a constantT a of 23°C throughout the year, and hamsters living outside where they experienced seasonal changes in photoperiod plusT a. Seasonal cueing by photoperiod established 55% of total improvements of NST during winter in hamsters living inside, whereas further 45% were due to adaptation to cold in hamsters living outside.

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Abbreviations

NST :

nonshivering thermogenesis

BAT :

brown adipose tissue

HPmax :

maximum cold induced thermoregulatory heat production

NA :

noradrenaline

BW :

body weight

\(\dot V_{O_2 } \) :

oxygen consumption

T a :

ambient temperature

T re :

rectal temperature

T b :

body temperature (by temperature transmitter)

BMR :

basal metabolic rate at thermoneutrality

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Biologie, Philipps-Universität-Zoologie, Postfach 1929, D-3550, Marburg, Federal Republic of Germany

    Gerhard Heldmaier, Stephan Steinlechner & Johannes Rafael

Authors
  1. Gerhard Heldmaier
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  2. Stephan Steinlechner
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  3. Johannes Rafael
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Heldmaier, G., Steinlechner, S. & Rafael, J. Nonshivering thermogenesis and cold resistance during seasonal acclimatization in the Djungarian hamster. J Comp Physiol B 149, 1–9 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00735708

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