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Heat Production of the Rabbit at 28°C. as Affected by Previous Adaptation to Temperatures between 10° and 31°C¹

Nutrition Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Boston, Massachusetts

The level of the metabolism of twelve adult rabbits, in repose, at 28°, measured after they had been kept at 28° and without food for 24 hours, was dependent on the temperature at which they had been living prior to this period and the length of time they had been at this temperature. The major metabolic adjustment to an increase in temperature toward thermic neutrality took place in 2 to 3 weeks, but further adjustment continued up to at least 2 months. The adjustment to lower temperatures was less rapid. The maximum range in the deviations from the basal level in the metabolism measured at 28° amounted to 26.1% in a group of five rabbits that had lived at 17° and subsequently at 31°, and to 17.0% in a group of seven rabbits that had lived at 10° and later at 29°C. In general, the metabolism varied inversely with the change in previous temperature, 89% of eighty observations conforming to this finding. Prolongation of the stay at a given temperature caused a further change in metabolism in the same direction. When basal metabolism measurements on the rabbit are to be used as a measure of the effect of a superimposed condition, the previous environmental temperature should be maintained at 28° to 29°C., and the rabbit should be habituated to this temperature for 3 weeks prior to the measurements.

Manuscript received 1 August 1941.