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Construction And Use Of A Calorimeter To Estimate The Anaerobic Contributions To Metabolism, Mark S. Burger, Frank Van Breukelen

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

Metabolism is derived from the Greek word metabole which translates to change. Metabolism is the sum total of chemical reactions that take place in an organism. Some reactions are exothermic (heat-producing) whereas others are endothermic (heat-absorbing). By measuring heat production (calorimetry), one can estimate metabolic rate. Historically, such measurements of direct calorimetry were difficult. As a result, most studies utilize indirect calorimetry wherein oxygen consumption and/or carbon dioxide production are measured. One limitation to this approach is that anaerobic metabolism is ignored. No commercially-available calorimeter is available for whole animal metabolic studies. We hypothesized that small rodent hibernators may experience …