Comparison of the body temperature rhythms of diurnal and nocturnal rodents

✍ Scribed by Refinetti, Roberto

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 304 KB
• Volume: 275
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-010x(19960501)275:1<67::aid-jez10>3.0.co;2-u

✦ Synopsis

The daily rhythm of body temperature of six rodent species, three of them nocturnal (Rattus noruegicus, Mesocricetus auratus, and Meriones unguiculatus) and three diurnal (Octodon degus, Spermophilus tridecemlineatus, and S. richardsoni), was studied by telemetry under a 14L: 10D light-dark cycle. Significant interspecies differences were found in the mean level (range: 36.0-37.4"C), amplitude (range: 2. lo4.3"C), robustness (range: 115-185 Q,), and acrophase (range: 8.5-16.0 hr) of the temperature rhythm. In addition, a positive correlation (r = 0.79) was found between body mass and robustness of the rhythm across species. However, the only consistent difference between the diurnal and nocturnal species was the acrophase, which occurred during the day in the diurnal species (range: 8.5-11.5 hr) and during the night in the nocturnal species (range: 13.5-16.0 hr).