Effects of adrenalectomy before weaning and short- or long-term glucocorticoid administration on the genetically obese Zucker rat.

Intact obese rats were hyperinsulinaemic, had higher rates of whole-body fatty acid synthesis, higher activities of hepatic acetyl-CoA carboxylase and tyrosine aminotransferase and a higher hepatic glycogen concentration than intact lean animals. Adrenalectomy abolished all these factors of the obese phenotype. Treatment of adrenalectomized rats with corticosterone for 24 h increased the rate of whole-body fatty acid synthesis to the same extent in both phenotypes, but caused a larger increase in glycogen concentration, tyrosine aminotransferase activity and plasma insulin concentration in obese rats.