Preferential utilization of brown adipose tissue lipids during arousal from hibernation in hamsters

utilization of brown adipose tissue lipids during arousal from hibernation in hamsters. Am. J. Physiol. 247 (Regulatory Inte-grative Comp. Physiol. 16): R506-R512, 1984.-The participa-tion of brown adipose tissue in the arousal process of golden hamsters was studied. The utilization of lipids in different depots of brown adipose tissue was followed gravimetrically. From both the interscapular and the cervical brown adipose tissue depots, 28 mg of lipid were lost during arousal; there was no measurable loss of lipid from the white adipose tissue depots. The total weight of eight identified depots of brown adipose tissue in nonhibernating, cold-acclimated hamsters was esti-mated to be 1,700 mg, of which 475 g were lipid. It is calculated that a total of 255 mg lipid disappeared from brown adipose tissue during arousal; this lipid is theoretically capable of giving rise to 2.4 kcal (9.9 kJ) of heat. It is concluded that the hea