ABSTRACT
Hibernation is a strategy used to maintain life under unfavourable conditions; its occurrence is influenced by genetic programs triggered by the corresponding external and internal stimuli. Investigations of electrical activity in brain structures and the effects of sensory stimulation, as well as administration of pharmacological substances performed in various periods of hibernation has led researchers to conclude that the limbic brain structures are important in neural control of the hibernation/euthermia cycle. The appearance of theta-rhythm in the hippocampal electroencephalogram of hibernating animals may signal an arousal from hibernation, and it was suggested that the septum also played an important role in this process. The septal area is an important relay station for the sensory or arousal signals passing from the midbrain reticular formation and hypothalamus to the hippocampus and many investigators regard MS-DB as a pacemaker center which is the source of the hippocampal theta-rhythm.
