Inhibition of shivering during restraint hypothermia

Abstract

Restraint hypothermia has often been described, but its cause has never been clarified. We hypothesized that it might be due to a suppression of shivering thermogenesis. Thus, we restrained conscious rats in an ambient temperature of 2 °C while measuring rectal (Tre) and tail skin temperatures, metabolic rate (MR), and shivering activity. When rats were cold exposed but not restrained, Tre fell 1.4 ± 0.2 °C (SE) during the 1st h. When these same rats were restrained, Tre fell at a rate of 6.5 ± 0.2 °C/h. MR averaged 15.7 ± 1.4 W/kg for the unrestrained rats, but it averaged only 9.0 ± 1.1 W/kg for the restrained rats. The restrained rats showed no signs of shivering. The animals were then subjected to a restraint adaptation regimen and then reexposed to cold. Restraint now produced a fall in Tre of only 2.6 ± 0.7° C/h. The animals shivered and generated an MR of 15.8 ± 0.9 W/kg. Naive rats became hypothermic because restraint suppressed shivering activity. However, adapted rats continued to shiver and remained normothermic. We suggest that a stressful or threatening situation, such as restraint for a naive rat, inhibits shivering and leads to hypothermia in a cold environment. This would not occur in adapted rats because restraint is no longer stressful.