Effect of high fat and high carbohydrate diets on adipose tissue pyruvate dehydrogenase and its activation by a plasma membrane-enriched fraction and insulin.

Rats were fed a high lard diet or a high glucose diet for 5--7 days. Basal and insulin-stimulated epididymal fat pad pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) activities were decreased in fat diet-adapted rats compared to those fed the glucose diet. When adipocyte plasma membranes and mitochondria were incubated together with and without insulin, it was found that the insulin stimulation of PDH activity was lower in preparations from fat-fed rats on both an absolute and percentage basis. Supernatant fractions from insulin-stimulated glucose-fed rat plasma membranes activated mitochondrial PDH to a greater extent than those from lard-fed rat preparations. There was no difference in the response of mitochondria from the two groups when they were stimulated by insulin-treated plasma membranes from stock diet-fed rat adipose tissue. These experiments suggest that fat feeding results in adaptive changes in adipocyte plasma membranes which are involved in the generation of the insulin-stimulated chemical activator of PDH. This adaptive change is in addition to those described earlier.