AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 255, Issue 6 952-R960, Copyright © 1988 by American Physiological Society
Effects of cimaterol, a beta-adrenergic agonist, on energy metabolism in ob/ob mice
H. C. Walker and D. R. Romsos
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824-1224.
Cimaterol when added to the diets for 3 or 9 wk stimulated whole animal
energy expenditure and brown adipose tissue thermogenic activity comparably
in genetically obese (ob/ob) and lean mice; however, ob/ob mice fed diets
containing 140 or 280 micrograms cimaterol/kcal failed to increase energy
intake as much as lean mice. Consequently, the efficiency of energy
retention was actually lower in ob/ob mice fed diets containing cimaterol
than in similarly treated lean mice. Cimaterol stimulated skeletal muscle
gain in ob/ob mice, although at no point did final hindlimb muscle weight
of ob/ob mice equal that of lean mice. Hyperinsulinemia was abolished in
ob/ob mice fed diets containing cimaterol even though plasma corticosterone
concentrations remained elevated. We conclude that cimaterol has greater
effects on energy balance and plasma insulin, but not on skeletal muscle
accretion, in ob/ob mice than in lean mice.
