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Autonomic and behavioural thermoregulation in starved rats

Sotaro Sakurada*, Osamu Shido†, Naotoshi Sugimoto*, Yasuhiro Hiratsuka*, Tamae Yoda‡ and Kazuyuki Kanosue‡

1. We investigated the mechanism of starvation-induced hypothermia in rats.

2. Threshold core temperatures (T_cor) for tail skin vasodilatation and cold-induced thermogenesis were determined after a 3 day starvation using a chronically implanted intravenous thermode. Food deprivation significantly lowered the threshold T_cor for heat production, but did not affect the heat loss threshold.

3. Thermogenic response to a fall in T_cor below its threshold was enhanced by starvation.

4. Preferred ambient temperatures (T_pref) and T_cor were measured before and during a 3 day starvation in a thermal gradient. The 3 day starvation significantly lowered T_cor only in the light phase of the day. The level of hypothermia was the same throughout the fasting period, while T_pref gradually increased during the 3 days of starvation.

5. When rats were starved at a constant ambient temperature of 25°C (no thermal gradient), their T_cor levels were comparable with those of the rats kept in the thermal gradient.

6. The results suggest that, in rats, hypothermia caused by starvation was not due to a decrement in thermogenic capability, but was due to a decrease in the threshold for the activation of thermogenesis.

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