In an On Biology blog post, the authors propose that decreased thyroid hormone signaling is a key regulator of hibernation physiology in bears. They discuss how studying hibernating brown bears can help identify new human therapies.
Shared physiology between hypothyroid humans and hibernating bears. Bears are healthy obese and inactive animals Bears are amazing animals. They hibernate for about six months every year. Before entering hibernation, they accumulate large amounts of fat and become highly obese in preparation for these six months without food and water.
Thyroid hormones are major regulators of metabolism Hibernating bears lower their metabolic rate to approximately 25% of the rate during the active state and survive merely by consumption of fat deposits stored during the hyperphagic phase at the end of summer. The thyroid hormones are bound and transported by binding proteins in the plasma. Like most plasma proteins, thyroid hormone carriers are produced in the liver. We analyzed the gene expression of the major thyroid hormone carrier proteins in the liver based on a previously published dataset from Grizzly bears. We found that the major thyroid hormone carrier – thyroxine binding globulin – was increased more than 4-fold compared to the level in the active state.
This observation led us to propose that decreased thyroid hormone signaling is a key regulator of hibernation physiology in bears and function to protect energy stores by reducing the metabolic rate. We hope that other researchers will be inspired by our results and see the potential of using the hibernating brown bear as a source for identifying new human therapies.
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