Brown adipose tissue after ventromedial hypothalamic lesions in rats.

The interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT) from obese rats with lesions of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) was approximately 5 times heavier than those from controls. This hypertrophy of IBAT was associated with a marked enlargement of constituent adipocytes and their apparent transformation from multiloculated structure of lipid droplets into the uniloculated structure. The rate of fatty acid synthesis in IBAT of the obese rats was less than one-tenth of that in control rats and approximated the value in white adipose tissue (WAT) when they were starved for 24 h. When rats were fed, the synthetic rate was increased, but the lipogenic response of IBAT in the obese rats was much greater than that in controls, the extent of the response being comparable to that of WAT. The IBAT temperature rose rapidly on electrical stimulation of the sympathetic nerves to the tissue in control rats, whereas the temperature response was reduced markedly in the obese rats. It was suggested that thermogenesis in BAT was impaired in obese rats with VMH lesions by decreasing triglyceride turnover in BAT, probably due to dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system and a consequent transformation of BAT into WAT.