Figure 4.

Metabolic and physiological differences in mice under chronic cold or at thermoneutrality. Mouse models used to study metabolic diseases are influenced by environmental temperature. Mice show differences in the metabolic phenotype when housed at a standard temperature (21 °C) vs. thermoneutrality (30 °C). Mice at standard temperatures are subjected to chronic cold. This triggers controlled hypothermia where energy expenditure is affected by changes in physiology (food intake, BAT and WAT physiology and an increase in adaptive thermogenesis) and in metabolism (basal metabolism, adaptive thermogenesis, diet efficiency, insulin secretion, adipose tissue physiology, inflammation at adipocyte and vascular levels, and the effect of drugs and therapies against obesity).