AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 250, Issue 6 1108-R1116, Copyright © 1986 by American Physiological Society
Dietary obesity: brown fat denervation fails to alter development or recovery
J. E. Cox and J. F. Lorden
We assessed the effect of scapular brown adipose tissue (BAT) denervation
on dietary obesity in adult female Sprague-Dawley rats. In rats maintained
for 32 days on an obesity-inducing regimen, BAT denervation produced
significant reductions in food intake (83.4 vs. 94.4 kcal/day), weight gain
(66.0 vs. 103.5 g), and carcass fat (19.3 vs. 27.6%). A subgroup of
denervates consuming as many calories as controls (94.1 kcal/day) failed to
gain more weight (92.2 g) or accumulate more fat (25.4%) than controls. In
rats developing obesity for 32 days followed by 8 days on laboratory chow,
weight change was unaffected by denervation during either weight gain (89.4
vs. 87.1 g for controls) or weight loss (21.2 vs. 22.1 g) phases, as was
carcass fat (21.0 vs. 20.4%). BAT norepinephrine utilization was unchanged
in nondenervated obese rats and those recovering from obesity. We did not,
therefore, find evidence that under these experimental conditions
sympathetic activation of BAT countered obesity during overconsumption or
contributed to recovery from obesity.
