DIURNAL-VARIATION OF HEAT INTAKE IN OVARIECTOMIZED, STEROID-TREATED RATS

Ovariectomized rats trained to work for radiant heat reward in a cold environment were implanted with subcutaneous Silastic capsules containing either estradiol, progesterone, both estradiol and progesterone, or no hormone. The hormone treatments produced an average plasma estradiol concentration of 41 pg/ml and progesterone concentration of 20-50 ng/ml. All groups obtained more heat behaviorally when tested during the light phase of the LD cycle than when tested in the dark. Body temperatures and metabolic rates were higher during the night than during the day. There were no differences between groups in behavioral heat intake or body temperature. All hormone-treated groups showed a greater reduction in core temperature than the control group when an exogenous source of heat was not available, but there was no substantial effect of the hormone treatments on metabolic rate except for a 6-7% increase in metabolism of the estrogen group. The increased cooling rate of all hormone-treated groups may indicate a nonspecific steroid-induced increase in heat loss in the cold. The diurnal variation in heat intake establishes the LD cycle as a significant variable in thermoregulatory behavior of the rat. Thus, behavioral heat intake is high during the day when metabolism and body temperature are low, and low at night when metabolism and body temperature are high in this nocturnal species. © 1979.