Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination

    Physiol Genomics. 2009 Mar 3;37(1):43-51. Epub 2008 Dec 23.

    Analysis of the hibernation cycle using LC-MS-based metabolomics in ground squirrel liver.

    Nelson CJ, Otis JP, Martin SL, Carey HV.

    Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.

    A hallmark of hibernation in mammals is metabolic flexibility, which is typified by reversible bouts of metabolic depression (torpor) and the seasonal shift from predominantly carbohydrate to lipid metabolism from summer to winter. To provide new insight into the control and consequences of hibernation, we used LC/MS-based metabolomics to measure differences in small molecules in ground squirrel liver in five activity states: summer, entering torpor, late torpor, arousing from torpor, and interbout arousal. There were significant alterations both seasonally and within torpor-arousal cycles in enzyme cofactor metabolism, amino acid catabolism, and purine and pyrimidine metabolism, with observed metabolites reduced during torpor and increased upon arousal. Multiple lipids also changed, including 1-oleoyllysophosphatidylcholine, cholesterol sulfate, and sphingosine, which tended to be lowest during torpor, and hexadecanedioic acid, which accumulated during a torpor bout. The results reveal the dramatic alterations that occur in several classes of metabolites, highlighting the value of metabolomic analyses in deciphering the hibernation phenotype.

    PMID: 19106184 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    Supplemental Content

    Click here to read Click here to read Click here to read