Seymour Roger S, White Craig R
Environmental Biology, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
Physiol Biochem Zool. 2011 Jan-Feb;84(1):107-10. doi: 10.1086/658083.
The physiological mechanisms that determine basal metabolic rate (BMR) of endotherms have long been debated. This journal has recently presented a new model, based on biophysical principles of heat flux through the tissues of mammals, that attempts to explain the allometric relationship between BMR and body size. We offer a critique of the model and conclude that although the model may describe the physics of heat transfer through the body, it cannot explain mechanistically the level of BMR. BMR determines some of the key variables of the model, but no combination of the variables determines BMR. The model arrives at an equation relating BMR to body mass that is similar to descriptive empirical equations, but this coincidence results from the geometry of the model and the empirical values put into it.
决定恒温动物基础代谢率（BMR）的生理机制长期以来一直存在争议。本期刊最近提出了一个新模型，该模型基于热量通过哺乳动物组织传递的生物物理原理，试图解释基础代谢率与体型之间的异速生长关系。我们对该模型进行了批判，并得出结论：尽管该模型可能描述了热量在体内传递的物理过程，但它无法从机制上解释基础代谢率的水平。基础代谢率决定了模型的一些关键变量，但这些变量的任何组合都不能决定基础代谢率。该模型得出了一个将基础代谢率与体重相关联的方程，这个方程类似于描述性的经验方程，但这种巧合是由模型的几何结构和输入其中的经验值导致的。
