Acclimation to a thermoneutral environment abolishes age-associated alterations in heart rate and heart rate variability in conscious, unrestrained mice.

ABSTRACT: Mice are among the most widely used translational models of cardiovascular aging and offer a method to quickly assess lifespan changes in a controlled environment. The standard laboratory temperature (20-22 °C), however, imposes a cold stress on mice that causes an increase in sympathetic nervous system-mediated activation of brown adipose tissue (BAT) to maintain a core body temperature of 36-37 °C. Thus, while physiologic data obtained recapitulate human physiology to a certain degree, interpretations of previous research in mice may have been contaminated by a cold stress, due to housing mice below their thermoneutral zone (30 °C). The purpose of this investigation was to examine how chronic sympathetic stimulation evoked by acclimation to 20 °C might obscure interpretation of changes i

SUBMITTER: Axsom JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7031176 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature