Table 3.
Summary of some of the skeletal factors influencing energy and fat metabolism in hibernatorsa
| Hormone | Species | Seasonal concentrations |
References | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall (pre-hibernation) | Winter (hibernation) | Spring (post-hibernation) | Summer (active) | |||
| Osteocalcin | American Black Bear (U. americanus) | 16.9 ng/ml | 27.7–70.4 ng/ml | 49.3 ng/ml | 51.2 ng/ml | Donahue et al. (2006a, 2006b) and Vestergaard et al. (2011) |
| Woodchuck (M. monax) | 93.1 ng/ml | 139.72 ng/ml | 192.13 ng/ml | Doherty (2013) | ||
| PTH | American Black Bear | 14.6 pg/ml | 25.3–36.66 pg/ml | 41.4 pg/ml | 41.36 pg/ml | Donahue et al. (2006a, 2006b) and Vestergaard et al. (2011) |
| 1,25(OH)2D | American Black Bear and Brown Bear (U. arctos) | 71.97–88.6 pmol/l | 103.09–192.5 pmol/l | Vestergaard et al. (2011) and Seger et al. (2011) | ||
aThis table reflects a summary of key studies in hibernation with potential insight into bone metabolism. The table is not intended to be all inclusive and the ranges given do not highlight seasonal changes that may be found in particular studies.