title: Influence of androgenicity on adipocytes and precursor cells in female rats.
abstract: We examined the effects of overexposure of testosterone (T) on fat cell morphology and adipocyte precursor pools in inguinal and retroperitoneal fat depots of ovariectomized rats. In both tissues peripubertal T decreased weights without affecting adipocyte mean cell size or the size distribution profiles, but adipocyte number was decreased by 65% in the inguinal and by 38% in the retroperitoneal depots. Immunofluorescent flow cytometry utilizing a specific antibody to rat adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase was used to quantify regional precursor cell populations. T sharply reduced the percentages of differentiated and undifferentiated preadipocytes in the inguinal depot, from 43.2 +/- 5.3 to 23.5 +/- 2.1% and from 57.7 +/- 4.0 to 43.6 +/- 5.3%, respectively, with a concomitant increase in fibroblasts from 1.6 to 32.9%. On the other hand, T had no effect on retroperitoneal preadipocyte pools. Perinatal androgenization exacerbated the decline in the inguinal weight (1.4 +/- 0.1 vs. 2.2 +/- 0.1g) but otherwise did not influence the actions of peripubertal T. Androgens may thus act in a tissue-specific manner to regulate fat cell growth potential in the femoral region in the female.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Clinical Nutrition, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA.
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: James
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Krakower
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Kissebah
mesh_terms: D017667:Adipocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology; D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D048429:Cell Size; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D008071:Lipoprotein Lipase / Q000032:analysis; D010052:Ovariectomy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology; D013739:Testosterone / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone; D008071:Lipoprotein Lipase