What can body temperature tell us about energy homeostasis?

哺乳动物的体温受到高度调节。然而，小型哺乳动物（如小鼠）的热生物学与大型哺乳动物（如成年人）的热生物学不同。例如，当老鼠被单独饲养在室温下时，大约一半的热量摄入被燃烧以保持体温（兼性产热），而人类需要很少的兼性产热。在禁食的情况下，老鼠可以将体温降低50到10摄氏度，而人类需要极度饥饿才能将体温降低1摄氏度。

Body temperature is highly regulated in mammals. However, thermal biology in smaller mammals (such as mice) is different from that in larger mammals (such as adult humans). For example, when mice are singly housed at room temperature, about half of caloric intake is burned to maintain body temperature (facultative thermogenesis), while humans require little facultative thermogenesis. Upon fasting, mice can reduce their body temperature by >10 C, while humans require extreme starvation to lower body temperature by even 1 C. We are exploring the use of body temperature as an indicator of the perceived metabolic status of the mouse. For example, what is the effect on body temperature of a genetic manipulation or drug treatment? What genetic manipulations or drug treatments cause dissociation of body temperature from nutritional status? What are the neurotransmitters and neural mechanisms involved?