title: Daily rhythmicity of glycemia in four species of domestic animals under various feeding regimes.
abstract: Daily rhythmicity of physiological processes has been described for numerous variables in numerous species. A major source of this rhythmicity is a circadian pacemaker located in the mammalian hypothalamus, but very little is known about how the pacemaker generates the multiplicity of bodily rhythms. Research on rats has shown that the rhythm of blood glucose concentration is not a mere consequence of the rhythm of food ingestion, but is rather generated directly by the pacemaker. In this study, we investigated the rhythm of blood glucose concentration in four different species of domestic animals under four different feeding regimes. Our results suggest that, as in rats, the rhythm of blood glucose concentration is not a mere consequence of the rhythm of food ingestion in sheep and cattle. In dogs and horses, however, the rhythmicity of blood glucose concentration seems to be contingent on the presence of a feeding regime.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Cronofisiologia Veterinaria, Dipartimento di Scienze Sperimentali e Biotecnologie Applicate, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Messina, 98168 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piccione
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fazio
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caola
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Refinetti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D002417:Cattle; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D004285:Dogs; D004435:Eating; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005508:Food Deprivation; D006736:Horses; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000502:physiology; D034561:Sheep, Domestic
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose