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Updated: Jul 8, 2025

Measuring Skeletal Muscle Thermogenesis in Mice and Rats
Published on: July 27, 2022
[Thermoneutrality and animal study]
Pierre-Louis Batrow1, Isabelle Mothe-Satney1, Ez-Zoubir Amri1
1Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Inserm, Institut de biologie Valrose (iBV), 06107 Nice, France.
Abstract:
Animal models remain important for the study of human pathologies. The most widely used model (mouse) is an endothermic mammal like humans, maintained at ambient temperatures (22 °C). Its energy metabolism is overactivated, a situation rarely observed in humans thanks to various adaptations (clothing, heating…). The thermoneutral zone is defined as a range of ambient temperatures that allows an organism to regulate body temperature without using additional thermoregulatory processes. There are many examples of divergent results between studies conducted at 22 °C or at 30 °C (thermoneutrality for mice). Therefore, it seems essential to take into account the housing temperature both for animal welfare and for the relevance of the results.
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