Effects of restraint on oxygen consumption of the cold exposed guinea pig

¹ National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

The oxygen consumption of cold exposed, restrained guinea pigs is significantly greater than that of cold exposed, nonrestrained controls. Similar observations have been made for the rat (Canad. J. Biochem. & Physiol. 33:654, 1955). These data strongly suggest that heat production is greater in the restrained animal than in the nonrestrained control. The hypothermia, then, accompanying restraint in the cold cannot be laid to a decreased muscular activity (muscular activity is actually increased) and a consequently lessened heat production, as suggested by some (J. Appl. Physiol. 12:214, 1958). It must be due, as demonstrated for the rat (Am. J. Physiol. 193:557, 1958), to an increased rate of heat loss. The marked physiological changes accompanying restraint should serve as a warning to the investigator who uses restraint for convenience in data collection.