Bears And Hibernation: New Insights Into Metabolism In Extreme Conditions

Thursday, May 15, 2008 - 22:21 in Biology & Nature

Due to their ability to produce a potent inhibitor of protein degradation, hibernating bears do not lose muscle mass after long periods of hibernation. The team researched for the first time the physiological reasons for an effect that is well known to the scientific community -- the fact that hibernating bears do not lose muscle tissue, only fat. The team studied the physiological response of muscle cells of laboratory rats grown with hibernating bear plasma outside the period of hibernation.

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