title: Hypothalamic control of brown adipose tissue in Zucker lean and obese rats. Effect of electrical stimulation of the ventromedial nucleus and other hypothalamic centres.
abstract: Electrophysiological stimulation of the hypothalamic ventromedial nucleus (VMN) resulted in an increase in interscapular brown adipose tissue (BAT) temperature in both lean and obese (fa/fa) rats. Graded stimulations resulted in progressively larger temperature increases in both lean and obese (fa/fa) groups. Both intraperitoneal injection of propranolol and surgical denervation (but not sham denervation) abolished the increase in BAT temperature following VMN stimulation, in both lean and obese (fa/fa) groups. Electrical stimulation of the supraoptic region, and certain anterior hypothalamic regions also resulted in increases in BAT temperature of lean and obese (fa/fa) rats, but stimulation of the dorsomedial nucleus and regions of the lateral hypothalamus did not affect BAT temperature. All hypothalamic regions capable of activating BAT gave a similar maximum rise in temperature for a given stimulus in lean and obese (fa/fa) rats. These results suggest that the efferent sympathetic pathway from the VMN and other hypothalamic regions of BAT is normal in the obese (fa/fa) rat.
mesh_terms: D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000187:drug effects; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011433:Propranolol / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D011924:Rats, Zucker; D013495:Supraoptic Nucleus / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014697:Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D011433:Propranolol