期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:1996
卷号:93
期号:18
页码:9864-9868
DOI:10.1073/pnas.93.18.9864
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Hibernation patterns were monitored continuously for 2.5 years in female squirrels that were neurologically intact or in which the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) was completely ablated (SCNx). The number of hibernation bouts in SCNx squirrels increased by 159%, total hibernation time increased by 58%, and periodic arousals from hibernation were 47% longer in SCNx than in control squirrels; the duration of individual torpor bouts was 2 days shorter and far more variable in SCNx than in control animals. Some SCNx squirrels cycled through bouts of torpor continuously for nearly 2 years. The SCN appears to be part of the mechanism that controls the duration of the hibernation season and the temporal structure of individual torpor bouts.