Brown fat in the rat: adaptive changes in cold

Abstract

1. Brown adipose tissue has been earlier shown in this laboratory to represent a highly vascularized thermogenic effector system which in response to cold supplies heat to cervical and thoracic neural and visceral elements. 2. In respect to rats, evidence is adduced to show that during cold exposure the hyperplastic development and rising QO2 of the brown adipose tissue coincides in point of time with the gradual disappearance of the shivering thermogenesis normally occurring during the first two or three weeks of exposure. 3. Factors which may limit the amount and hyperplastic rate of growth of the tissue are suggested. © 1964 Biologischen Anstalt Helgoland.