Deprivation of corticosterone does not prevent onset of obesity in Zucker fa/fa pups.

Adrenalectomy has been shown to reduce the development of obesity in adult Zucker fatty rat. In this study, we examined whether adrenalectomy could prevent the emergence of obesity and correct any of the first abnormalities to develop in fa/fa pups. Four-day-old Zucker pups were adrenalectomized and fed by adrenalectomized wet nurses until 11 days of age. The frequency distribution curves of fat cell volume clustered in two groups as they do in control litters, providing evidence that two phenotypes were present. Oxygen consumption measured at 8 days of age was significantly lower in fa/fa than in Fa/fa. Adrenalectomy did not restore the decreased oxygen consumption of fa/fa. In control litters, the GDP binding to brown adipose tissue mitochondria was twofold lower, whereas fatty acid synthase activity of this tissue was significantly increased in fa/fa pups. In inguinal adipose tissue of fa/fa pups, fatty acid synthase, and lipoprotein lipase activities were twice as active as in the tissue of lean pups. In adrenalectomized fa/fa pups, none of these metabolic abnormalities was corrected. The results demonstrate that adrenalectomy early in life did not prevent the emergence of obesity in suckling fa/fa rats.