Spontaneous daily torpor and fasting-induced torpor in Djungarian hamsters are characterized by distinct patterns of metabolic rate.

Abstract

The Djungarian hamster is a rodent species that expresses both spontaneous daily torpor (SDT) when acclimated to winter conditions as well as fasting-induced torpor (FIT) during summer. In an earlier report we argued that these two thermoregulatory phenomena differ in several parameters. In the present study, we further complete this comparison by showing that metabolic rate patterns differ between both SDT and FIT. SDT bouts were significantly longer and deeper compared to FIT bouts. Additionally, respiratory quotient measures support the view that SDT is entered from a state of energetic balance while FIT appears to be an emergency shutdown of energy demanding thermogenesis due to a shortage of energy sources. In a second experiment, we also confirm that brief periods of food restriction during the hamsters' torpor season increase the frequency of SDT, but do not affect its depth or duration. Although winter-acclimated animals could flexibly alter torpor frequency in order to stay in energetic balance, we also found evidence for torpor expression patterns that resembled FIT, rather than SDT. Consequently, if energetic challenges cannot be compensated with increased SDT expression any longer, the hamsters seem to be driven in a negative energy balance resulting in FIT as a last resort.