AJP - Regu Fuel your research with LabChart
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 252: R160-R165, 1987;
0363-6119/87 $5.00
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Billington, C. J.
Right arrow Articles by Morley, J. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Billington, C. J.
Right arrow Articles by Morley, J. E.

AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 252, Issue 1 160-R165, Copyright © 1987 by American Physiological Society

ARTICLES

Glucagon stimulation of brown adipose tissue growth and thermogenesis

C. J. Billington, T. J. Bartness, J. Briggs, A. S. Levine and J. E. Morley

Despite long-standing observations of a whole-body thermogenic effect of glucagon, the role of glucagon in activating thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue has not often been studied. We investigated the ability of administered glucagon to produce alterations in brown adipose tissue similar to changes produced by accepted stimuli of brown fat activity: cold, norepinephrine, and overfeeding. Eighteen days of glucagon injections (1 mg/kg) to male Sprague-Dawley rats produced, relative to saline-injected controls, decreases in feed efficiency and increases in brown adipose tissue weight, protein content, DNA content, and mitochondrial mass as reflected in cytochrome oxidase activity. The observed changes were similar, though of lesser magnitude, to changes produced in these same parameters induced by administration of norepinephrine (250 micrograms/kg) for a positive control group. Four days of glucagon administration (1 mg/kg) produced increases in specific activity of cytochrome oxidase and lipoprotein lipase. After 8 days of glucagon administration, changes in whole-pad activity similar to those seen with 18 days of administration were present. Glucagon also increased whole-pad lipoprotein lipase activity after 4 and 8 days. Surgically denervated interscapular brown adipose tissue retained its ability to respond to exogenous glucagon, though the magnitude of the response was diminished. Guanosine 5'-diphosphate (GDP) binding to brown adipose tissue mitochondria was measured as an assessment of functional state after 5 days of glucagon (1 mg/kg). There was an increase in GDP binding relative to controls whether expressed as picomoles per milligram mitochondrial protein or nanomoles per pad.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol.Home page
A. Dicker, J. Zhao, B. Cannon, and J. Nedergaard
Apparent thermogenic effect of injected glucagon is not due to a direct effect on brown fat cells
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, November 1, 1998; 275(5): R1674 - R1682.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Visit Other APS Journals Online