AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 256, Issue 3 583-R589, Copyright © 1989 by American Physiological Society
Underfeeding and the physiological responses to infused epinephrine in lean women
P. I. Mansell and I. A. Macdonald
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Medical School, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Undernutrition leads to a reduction in sympathetic nervous system activity,
but it is not established whether whole body responsiveness to
catecholamines is also affected. The physiological responses to a 30-min
infusion of epinephrine at 25 ng.kg-1.min-1 were studied in seven healthy,
lean female subjects who had reduced their daily food intake to 60 kJ/kg
ideal body weight for 7 days. Underfeeding led to greater
epinephrine-induced increases in blood glycerol [peak increment 0.14 +/-
0.02 (SE) vs. 0.08 +/- 0.01 mmol/l, P less than 0.05] and
beta-hydroxybutyrate concentrations (mean increment 0.30 +/- 0.05 vs. 0.13
+/- 0.04 mmol/l, P less than 0.05, analysis of variance). Compared with the
normally fed state, in the underfed state epinephrine also caused greater
increases in skin temperatures measured over the abdomen (0.94 +/- 0.08 vs.
0.67 +/- 0.06 degrees C, P less than 0.05) and over the thigh (1.00 +/-
0.07 vs. 0.61 +/- 0.12 degrees C, P less than 0.01). Underfeeding did not,
however, affect the chronotropic, thermogenic, or other measured responses
to epinephrine. Underfeeding therefore caused an enhancement of some but
not all physiological responses to infused epinephrine.
