The present review introduces metabolic, physiological, and behavioral adaptations, e.g., energetics, body temperature, and nutrition, of the torpor or hibernation phenotype from small to large mammals. In this context, hibernating species preserve their lean body mass, including muscles, despite total physical inactivity and low energy consumption during torpor, a state of drastic reduction in metabolic rate associated with a more or less pronounced hypothermia. This is notably a major challenge for the treatment of obesity, where therapies should promote fat loss while preserving body proteins. Yet, finding and developing efficient treatments to limit body/muscle protein loss in humans remain a medical challenge, physical exercise and nutritional programs managing to only partially compensate for it.
Basic knowledge of the molecular and cellular mechanisms that control proteostasis is continuously growing. Death following starvation is attributed to a loss of about half of total body proteins, and body protein loss induced by muscle disuse is responsible for major metabolic disorders in immobilized patients, and sedentary or elderly people. Any change in protein abundance and/or structure is at risk for the proper body functioning and/or survival of organisms. Proteins are not only the major structural components of living cells but also ensure essential physiological functions within the organism. 4Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria.3Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco, Monaco.2University of Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, Ecology, Physiology & Ethology Department, Strasbourg, France.1University of Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio-Organique, Strasbourg, France.Fabrice Bertile 1 *, Caroline Habold 2, Yvon Le Maho 2,3 † and Sylvain Giroud 4 * †
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