Turning down the heat: Down-regulation of sarcolipin in a hibernating mammal

Hibernation in mammals is a whole-body phenotype that involves profound reductions in oxygen consumption, metabolic reactions, core body temperature, neural activity and heart rate. An important aspect of mammalian hibernation is the ability to reverse this state of hypothermic torpor by rewarming and subsequent arousal. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) and skeletal muscle shivering have been characterized as the predominant driving forces for thermogenesis during arousal. Conversely, the thermogenic contribution of these organs needs to be minimized as hibernating mammals enter torpor. Because skeletal muscle accounts for approximately 40% of the dry mass of the typical mammalian body, we aim to broaden the spotlight to include the importance of down-regulating skeletal muscle non-shivering thermogenesis during hibernation to allow for whole-body cooling and long-term maintenance of a depressed core body temperature when the animal is in torpor. This minireview will briefly describe the current understanding of thermoregulation in hibernating mammals and present new preliminary data on the importance of skeletal muscle and the micro-peptide sarcolipin as a major thermogenic target.