Adaptive mechanisms regulate preferred utilization of ketones in the heart and brain of a hibernating mammal during arousal from torpor

摘要

Hibernating mammals use reduced metabolism, hypothermia, and stored fat to survive up to 5 or 6 mo without feeding. We found serum levels of the fat-derived ketone, d-?hydroxybutyrate (BHB), are highest during deep torpor and exist in a reciprocal relationship with glucose throughout the hibernation season in the thirteen-lined ground squirrel (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus).