Thermal adaptation and fatty acid profiles of bone marrow and muscles in mammals: Implications of a study of caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou)

Abstract

Mammals have evolved several physiological mechanisms to cope with changes in ambient temperature. Particularly critical among them is the process of keeping the membrane of cells in a fluid phase to prevent metabolic dysfunction. In this paper, we examine variation in the fatty acid composition of bone marrow and muscle tissues in the cold-adapted caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) to determine whether there are systematic differences in fatty acid profiles between anatomical regions that could potentially be explained by thermal adaptation as influenced by cell function, including hematopoiesis. Our results indicate that the bone marrow and muscle tissues from the appendicular skeleton are more unsaturated than the same tissues in the axial skeleton, a finding that is consistent with physiological adaptation of the appendicular regions to thermal challenges. Because mechanisms of thermal adaptation appear to be widely shared among terrestrial mammals, we suggest that the same patterns may prevail in other species, possibly including humans.

UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap-MS-Based Untargeted Lipidomic Analysis of Lipid Molecular Species in Spinal Cords from Different Domesticated Animals

“…In contrast, our study found that PL was the predominant lipid class in spinal cords, followed by sphingolipids and glycerolipids. Morin et al [24] investigated the FA composition of different bone marrows in caribou and found that palmitic acid and oleic acid were present at similar levels (~30%), while stearic acid was present at a level of ~27% in the lumbar marrow. Steiner-Bogdaszewska et al reported an extremely low level (~3%) of stearic acid in the metatarsal bone marrows of red and fallow deer [25].…”