Gonzales Patrick, Rikke Brad A
Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0447, USA.
Age (Dordr). 2010 Mar;32(1):31-7. doi: 10.1007/s11357-009-9109-0. Epub 2009 Aug 11.
Aging leads to a loss of thermoregulation that can be readily monitored in laboratory mice. However, it is unclear from previous studies-we provide a tabular summary of 15 articles-whether significant loss occurs by midlife ( approximately 15 months of age). In this study, we examined 34 females from 22 LSXSS strains starting at 4 and 8 months of age (17 mice per age group). We used transponders inserted just under the loose skin of the pelt and calibrated against rectal body temperature to measure temperatures quickly without restraint. We found that the mean body temperatures measured 5 months later (9 and 13 months of age) had dropped significantly below normal in both groups: 0.6 masculineC lower in the younger cohort and 1.0 masculineC lower in the older cohort. These drops were not associated with weight loss or signs of pathology. Notably, the loss of thermoregulation between 8 and 13 months of age also exhibited genetic variation that was highly significant (P = 0.004). Such variation is potentially a powerful tool for determining the cause of thermoregulatory loss with age and whether this loss predicts senescence changes later in life, including the force of mortality.
衰老会导致体温调节功能丧失，这在实验室小鼠中很容易监测到。然而，从之前的研究（我们提供了15篇文章的表格总结）中尚不清楚中年（约15个月大）时是否会出现显著的体温调节功能丧失。在本研究中，我们从22个LSXSS品系中选取了34只雌性小鼠，分别从4个月和8个月大开始进行研究（每个年龄组17只小鼠）。我们在动物的皮毛松弛皮肤下植入应答器，并根据直肠体温进行校准，以便在无束缚的情况下快速测量体温。我们发现，5个月后（9个月和13个月大）测量的两组平均体温均显著低于正常水平：较年轻队列低0.6摄氏度，较年长队列低1.0摄氏度。这些体温下降与体重减轻或病理迹象无关。值得注意的是，8至13个月大期间体温调节功能的丧失也表现出高度显著的遗传变异（P = 0.004）。这种变异可能是一种强大的工具，用于确定随着年龄增长体温调节功能丧失的原因，以及这种丧失是否能预测生命后期的衰老变化，包括死亡风险。
