AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 263, Issue 6 1248-R1253, Copyright © 1992 by American Physiological Society
Adipose tissue lipolysis in vitro: a predictor of diet-induced obesity in female rats
T. E. Landerholm and J. S. Stern
Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis 95616.
Wide ranges in weight and fat gain in response to high-fat diets have been
reported in rats. This study measured epinephrine-stimulated lipolysis in
adipose tissue of normal weight, 3-mo-old, female Sprague-Dawley rats as a
metabolic predictor of "efficient gain" before feeding them a high-fat (84%
kcal) diet for 11 wk. Subcutaneous (inguinal) adipose tissue (1-1.5 g) was
excised, and the glycerol release was measured after incubation with 0,
10(-7), 10(-5), and 10(-3) M epinephrine. Differences in gain efficiency
explained much of the variation in lipid (r = 0.78) and weight (r = 0.83)
gain. Low glycerol release by 10(-5) and 10(-3) M epinephrine was
significantly correlated to high final fat accumulation. Low and high
quartiles based on glycerol release were not different in numbers of
adipocytes or food intake but were significantly different in gain
efficiency (P = 0.011), final weight (P = 0.036), carcass lipid (P =
0.033), and carcass lean mass (P = 0.017). In conclusion, female
Sprague-Dawley rats are preferentially predisposed to efficiency of adipose
accumulation on a high-fat diet. This tendency is negatively correlated in
the preobese state to the lipolytic response to epinephrine of subcutaneous
adipose tissue in vitro.
