Hibernation is a seasonally entrained and profound phenotypic transition to conserve energy in winter. It involves significant biochemical reprogramming, although our understanding of the underpinning molecular events is fragmentary and selective. We have conducted a large-scale gene expression screen of the golden-mantled ground squirrel, Spermophilus lateralis, to identify transcriptional responses associated specifically with the summer-winter transition and the torpid-arousal transition in winter. We used 112 cDNA microarrays comprising 12,288 probes that cover at least 5,109 genes. In liver, the profiles of torpid and active states in the winter were almost identical, although we identified 102 cDNAs that were differentially expressed between winter and summer, 90% of which were downregulated in the winter states. By contrast, in cardiac tissue, 59 and 115 cDNAs were elevated in interbout arousal and torpor, respectively, relative to the summer active condition, but only 7 were common to both winter states, and during arousal none was downregulated. In brain, 78 cDNAs were found to change in winter, 44 of which were upregulated. Thus transcriptional changes associated with hibernation are qualitatively modest and, since these changes are generally less than twofold, also quantitatively modest. Unbiased Gene Ontology profiling of the transcripts suggests a winter switch to ␤-oxidation of lipids in liver and heart, a reduction in metabolism of toxic compounds and the urea cycle in liver, and downregulated electron transport in the brain. We identified just one strongly winter-induced transcript common to all tissues, namely an RNA-binding protein, RBM3. This analysis clearly differentiates responses of the principal tissues, identifies a large number of new genes undergoing regulation, and broadens our understanding of affected cellular processes that, in part, account for the winter-adaptive hibernating phenotype. hibernation; torpor; microarray HIBERNATION IS AN ADAPTIVE phenotype used by a wide range of mammalian species to conserve energy during the inclement months of winter. Seasonal hibernators, such as the goldenmantled ground squirrel, Spermophilus lateralis, cycle annually between a period of growth, fattening, and reproduction in summer and a period of minimal activity and fasting in winter.

lined ground squirrels and other circannual hibernators undergo profound physiological changes on an annual basis, transitioning from summer homeothermy [body temperature (Tb) ϳ37°C] to winter heterothermy (Tb cycling between 0°C and 37°C). We hypothesize that these physiological changes are reflected in biochemical changes that provide mechanistic insights into, and biomarkers for, hibernation states. Here we report the results of an NMR-based metabolomics analysis of liver extracts from ground squirrels in three distinct physiological states of circannual hibernation: summer active (SA), late torpor (LT), and reentering torpor (Ent) after one of the euthermic arousals. Of the 43 identified and quantified metabolites, 36 differed among these three states and fell into two patterns of variation: 1) SA differed from both of the two winter states; or 2) the two winter states differed from each other, but one of the two was not different from SA. Concentrations of hepatic glucose, lactate, alanine, succinate, ␤-hydroxybutyrate, glutamine, and betaine were identified as robust hepatic biomarkers that together distinguish among animals in these three states of the circannual hibernation rhythm. These data are consistent with a proposed two-switch model of hibernation, in which setting the summer-winter switch to winter enables expression of a distinct torpor-arousal switch. The summer-winter switch is characterized by the metabolites associated with the well-known switch from carbohydrate to lipid fuel utilization during hibernation. The torpor-arousal switch is characterized by the accumulation of metabolites of nitrogen (glutamine) and phospholipid (betaine) catabolism in LT with the capacity to act as protective osmolytes. metabolomics; nitrogen metabolism; osmolytes; Spermophilus tridecemlineatus; torpor MAMMALIAN HIBERNATORS are uniquely able to orchestrate and survive extended periods of extremely low body temperature (T b ) and metabolic, respiratory, and heart rates in a state called torpor. The deep, multiday periods of torpor that characterize hibernation alternate with periodic short arousals that reverse the dramatic physiological depressions associated with the torpid state (reviewed in Ref. 5). Thus hibernators, including 13-lined ground squirrels (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus), are homeothermic like most mammals in summer but switch to heterothermy in winter (Fig. 1). The biochemical consequences of periodic arousals from torpor are complex and come with tremendous costs. Although hibernation is a strategy that saves large amounts of energy over the winter compared with remaining euthermic (ϳ90%), most of the energy used in winter (Ͼ70%) is used to fuel these interbout arousals (Ref. 22 and references therein). Hence the arousals are an enigma-Why arouse when remaining torpid would save so much more energy? It has been suggested that hibernators must rewarm to restore or remove a metabolic imbalance (Ref. 27, chapter 6).Metabolomics seeks to identify and quantify the low-molecular-weight endogenous co...

nation as manifested in ground squirrels is arguably the most plastic and extreme of physiological phenotypes in mammals. Homeostasis is challenged by prolonged fasting accompanied by heterothermy, yet must be facilitated for survival. We performed LC and GC-MS metabolomic profiling of plasma samples taken reproducibly during seven natural stages of the hibernator's year, three in summer and four in winter (each n Ն 5), employing a nontargeted approach to define the metabolite shifts associated with the phenotype. We quantified 231 named metabolites; 106 of these altered significantly, demarcating a cycle within a cycle where torpor-arousal cycles recur during the winter portion of the seasonal cycle. A number of robust hibernation biomarkers that alter with season and winter stage are identified, including specific free fatty acids, antioxidants, and previously unpublished modified amino acids that are likely to be associated with the fasting state. The major pattern in metabolite levels is one of either depletion or accrual during torpor, followed by reversal to an apparent homeostatic level by interbout arousal. This finding provides new data that strongly support the predictions of a long-standing hypothesis that periodic arousals are necessary to restore metabolic homeostasis. Ictidomys tridecemlineatus; Spermophilus; ␥-glutamyl; biliverdin; NacetylA YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A HIBERNATOR begins with reproduction in spring, followed by growth in summer, and then massive storage of fat as fall approaches. Hibernation, characterized by months of fasting and dramatic oscillations between states of cold and warm body temperature (T b ), ensues only after adequate fat stores are deposited (7). Most of the fall and winter months are spent in a state of deep torpor in which metabolic, heart, and respiratory rates are reduced to Ͻ5% of their summer equivalents, and body temperature declines to as low as 0°C, or even below (5). However, all hibernating mammals spontaneously reverse torpor at regular intervals by elevating metabolic rate and employing strictly endogenous mechanisms of heat production including shivering and nonshivering thermogenesis. In the thirteen-lined ground squirrel, Ictidomys tridecemlineatus, elevated metabolic rate and T b (ϳ37°C) are maintained in each interbout arousal for ϳ10 -12 h before dropping again to initiate the next ϳ2 wk bout of torpor. Thus, the circannual hibernation rhythm can be viewed as a cycle between summer homeothermy and winter heterothermy, the latter of which is itself a cycle between torpor and arousal (see Fig. 1). These dramatic physiological shifts of hibernation have been postulated to result from intrinsic metabolic cycles (41) that may be revealed by metabolic profiling (42).Previous work to measure metabolite changes in hibernators documents a number of alterations in liver (2, 32, 36), brain (21, 40), brown adipose tissue (13), bile (4), and blood (1, 9, 24, 31) that begin to assess the metabolites cycling in association with hibernation. These data suggest a two-s...

Hepatic oxidative stress and subsequent lipid peroxidation are well-recognized consequences of sustained ethanol consumption. The covalent adduction of nucleophilic amino acid side-chains by lipid electrophiles is significantly increased in patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD); a global assessment of in vivo protein targets and the consequences of these modifications, however, has not been conducted. In this report, we describe identification of novel protein targets for covalent adduction in a 6-week murine model for ALD. Ethanol-fed mice displayed a 2-fold increase in hepatic TBARS while immunohistochemical analysis for the reactive aldehydes 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), 4-oxononenal (4-ONE), acrolein (ACR) and malondialdehyde (MDA) revealed a marked increase in the staining of modified proteins in the ethanol-treated mice. Increased protein carbonyl content was confirmed utilizing subcellular fractionation of liver homogenates followed by biotin-tagging through hydrazide chemistry, where approximately a 2-fold increase in modified proteins was observed in microsomal and cytosolic fractions. To determine targets of protein carbonylation, a secondary hydrazide method coupled to a highly sensitive 2-dimensional liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (2D LC-MS/MS or MuDPIT) technique was utilized. Our results have identified 414 protein targets for modification by reactive aldehydes in ALD. The presence of novel in vivo sites of protein modification by 4-HNE (2), 4-ONE (4) and ACR (2) was also confirmed in our data set. While the precise impact of protein carbonylation in ALD remains unknown, a bioinformatic analysis of the data set has revealed key pathways associated with disease progression, including fatty acid metabolism, drug metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation and the TCA cycle. These data suggest a major role for aldehyde adduction in the pathogenesis of ALD.

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