Brown Fat: Thermogenic Effector of Arousal in Hibernators

Abstract

Earlier indications that brown fat has a thermogenic role in rats exposed to cold suggested that certain comparable functions in hibernating marmots be investigated. From the results it appears that arousal of the animal by cold is induced by sympathetically activated thermogenesis in areas of brown fat so located, relative to the vasculature, that heat is transferred to the thoracic structures and cervical spinal regions.