Medullary Respiratory Circuit Is Reorganized by a Seasonally-Induced Program in Preparation for Hibernation.

ABSTRACT: Deep hibernators go through several cycles of profound drops in body temperature during the winter season, with core temperatures sometimes reaching near freezing. Yet unlike non-hibernating mammals, they can sustain breathing rhythms. The physiological processes that make this possible are still not understood. In this study, we focused on the medullary Ventral Respiratory Column of a facultative hibernator, the Syrian hamster. Using shortened day-lengths, we induced a "winter-adapted" physiological state, which is a prerequisite for hibernation. When recording electrophysiological signals from acute slices in the winter-adapted pre-Bötzinger complex (preBötC), spike trains showed higher spike rates, amplitudes, complexity, as well as higher temperature sensitivity, suggesting an increase

SUBMITTER: Russell TL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6497738 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature