The Relationship Between Lipid Peroxidation, Hibernation, and Food Selection in Mammals |
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Authors: | FRANK CRAIG L; DIERENFELD ELLEN S; STOREY KENNETH B |
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Institution: | *Louis Colder Center, Fordham University P.O. Box K, Armonk, New York 10504
New York Zoological Society/Wildlife Conservation Society Bronx, New York 10460
Department of Biology, Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada |
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Abstract: | SYNOPSIS. A diet that has high levels of polyunsaturated fattyacids enhances mammalian torpor. Polyunsaturated fatty acidsare not synthesized by mammals, but are incorporated into bothmembrane and storage lipids when they occur in the diet. Polyunsaturatedfatty acids also undergo autoxidation more readily than otherfatty acids, thereby producing highly toxic lipid peroxides.Lipid peroxidation increases during torpor. Natural selectionin mammalian hibernators should thus have favored the evolutionof dietary preferences that maximize hibernation ability whilesimultaneously minimizing the degree of lipid peroxidation duringtorpor. This hypothesis was tested in laboratory experimentsand field studies involving golden-mantled ground squirrels(Spermophilus lateralis). We found that the intake of polyunsaturatedfatty acids isrestricted during the fall and autoxidation intissues occurs mostly during the later phases of hibernation. |
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