Abstract

The control of mitochondrial substrate oxidation by the cellular demand for ATP implies strict coupling of mitochondrial energy producing and utilizing processes (Fig.1). Metabolic heat set free by a “normal” rate of oxidative phosphorylation is sufficient to sustain biological temperatures in homeothermic animals kept under thermoneutral conditions. When the environmental temperature is lowered to a hypothermic level, metabolic heat production is augmented by increased substrate oxidation. This is accomplished by a continuous ATP-turnover in the shivering skeletal muscle. In addition, numerous mammals are able to generate metabolic heat by socalled non-shivering thermogenesis (NST), which is supposed to be essential for many newborn animals as well as for hibernators during the arousal from hibernation [for reviews see 21,47,12]. Though several tissues are reported to be capable of performing NST, brown adipose tissue (BAT) is highly spezialized in this function and is the most suitable material to study this mode of biological heat production.

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