AJP - Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol 255, Issue 5 E597-E603, Copyright © 1988 by American Physiological Society
Adrenalectomy fails to stimulate brown adipose tissue metabolism in ob/ob mice fed glucose
H. K. Kim and D. R. Romsos
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824-1224.
Adrenalectomy arrests the development of obesity in ob/ob mice fed
nonpurified high-starch diets partly by stimulating the low thermogenic
activity of brown adipose tissue (BAT). However, adrenalectomy fails to
suppress the development of obesity in ob/ob mice fed a purified
high-glucose diet. Effects of adrenalectomy on BAT metabolism in ob/ob mice
fed purified high-starch or high-glucose diets were therefore examined.
Adrenalectomy markedly decreased the efficiency of energy retention and
increased BAT metabolism (as assessed by GDP binding to BAT mitochondria,
GDP-inhibitable acetate- or chloride-induced mitochondrial swelling, and by
rates of norepinephrine turnover in BAT) in ob/ob mice fed a high-starch
purified diet but had only minimal effects on energy efficiency or BAT
metabolism in ob/ob mice fed a high-glucose purified diet. Plasma insulin
concentrations decreased and thyroxine concentrations increased in
adrenalectomized ob/ob mice fed the high-starch diet; changes in these
hormones were less pronounced in adrenalectomized ob/ob mice fed the
high-glucose diet. Consumption of glucose mimics effects of adrenal
secretions on BAT metabolism in ob/ob mice.
