Life Sciences Commons^™

Seasonal Changes In White Adipose Tissue In American Black Bears (Ursus Americanus), Elizabeth Marie Hill

Masters Theses

American black bears have an intricate seasonal physiology, eating an entire year’s worth of food in 7-9 months, and then losing that weight during hibernation with almost no activity. The black bear thus represents a novel model in which to study seasonal regulation of food intake and metabolism. What controls the seasonal changes in fat deposition and metabolism in bears is unknown. Adipokines, such as leptin, regulate food intake and metabolism, and we hypothesized that these adipokines vary seasonally in bear adipose tissue, in a manner that correlates with fat storage. The study population consisted of wild bears from the …