The house musk shrew (Suncus murinus), or suncus, is a unique experimental mammal that is cold intolerant. However, even basic knowledge of brown adipose tissue (BAT), which is important for non-shivering thermogenesis (NST), is minimal. Therefore, we exposed suncus for 18 days to mild cold temperatures (8-14 degrees C) and/or a high-fat diet, which are factors that increase NST, and measured t...

Cold stress affects rice growth, quality and yield. The investigation of genome-wide gene expression is important for understanding cold stress tolerance in rice. We performed comparative transcriptome analysis of the shoots and roots of 2 rice seedlings (TNG67, cold-tolerant; and TCN1, cold-sensitive) in response to low temperatures and restoration of normal temperatures following cold exposur...

Cold-induced vasodilation (CIVD) in the finger tips generally occurs 5–10 min after the start of local cold exposure of the extremities. This phenomenon is believed to reduce the risk of local cold injuries. However, CIVD is almost absent during hypothermia, when survival of the organism takes precedence over the survival of peripheral tissue. Subjects that are often exposed to local cold (e.g....

Previous reports about the rat ovary have shown that cold stress promotes ovarian morphological alterations related to a polycystic ovary (PCO) condition through activation of the ovarian sympathetic nerves. Because the noradrenergic nucleus locus coeruleus (LC) is activated by cold stress and synaptically connected to the preganglionic cell bodies of the ovarian sympathetic pathway, this study...

Acetylcholinesterase 1 (AmAChE1) of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, has been suggested to have non-neuronal functions. A systematic expression profiling of AmAChE1 over a year-long cycle on a monthly basis revealed that AmAChE1 was predominantly expressed in both head and abdomen during the winter months and was moderately expressed during the rainy summer months. Interestingly, AmAChE1 expressi...

Stress is one of the basic factors in the etiology of number of diseases. Cold-stress occurs when the surrounding temperature drops below 18 degrees C, the body may not be able to warm itself, and hence serious cold-related illnesses, permanent tissue damage and death may results. The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of Triphala (Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica and Embl...

fennel (foeniculum vulgare mill.) is widely cultivated for its edible, strongly-flavored leaves, fruits, seeds andmedicinal uses. as the wild and cultivated plants are influenced by environmental stresses, the effects of salt (25, 50 and 75 mm nacl), nitrogen and iron deficiency (0 n, 0.5 n of hoagland’s solution, 0 fe and 0.5 fe ofhoagland’s solution), 2°c cold (2, 3 and 4 h) and drought (3, 5...

Ann-Chang Cheng, Chia-Yung Chen, Chyng-Hwa Liou, and Ching-Fong Chang (2006) Effects of dietary protein and lipids on blood parameters and superoxide anion production in the grouper, Epinephelus coioides (Serranidae: Epinephelinae). Zoological Studies 45(4): xxx-xxx. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of dietary lipid and protein levels on blood parameters, body compos...

OBJECTIVE Thyroid hormone accelerates energy expenditure; thus, hypothyroidism is intuitively associated with obesity. However, studies failed to establish such a connection. In brown adipose tissue (BAT), thyroid hormone activation via type 2 deiodinase (D2) is necessary for adaptive thermogenesis, such that mice lacking D2 (D2KO) exhibit an impaired thermogenic response to cold. Here we inves...