Changes in core temperature and thermoeffector thresholds in exercise-trained rats
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Updated: Oct 29, 2026

Measuring Skeletal Muscle Thermogenesis in Mice and Rats
Published on: July 27, 2022
N Sugimoto1, O Shido, S Sakurada
1Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-8640, Japan.
Abstract:
Spontaneous running in a running wheel has emerged as an alternative method of exercise in small animals. The present study investigated how exercise training with a running wheel affects core temperature level and thermoeffector thresholds in rats. Female rats were allowed to run freely in the wheel for 6 months. Sedentary controls did not exercise during the same period. After the exercise training period, they were loosely restrained and their threshold core temperatures for tail skin vasodilation and cold-induced thermogenesis were determined by warming or cooling the animals by use of a chronically implanted intravenous thermode. Resting and threshold core temperatures of the exercise-trained rats were higher than those of the sedentary controls. The results suggest that in rat, exercise training with a running wheel shifts threshold temperatures for heat loss and heat production to high levels, which may result in a rise in core temperature level.
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