Some Aspects of Rat Metabolism in the Brown Adipose Tissue of Normal and Hypothyroid Rats during Early Postnatal Development

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Abstract
Cretinism induced by treatment with propylthiouracil was observed to be accompanied by an accumulation of fat in the brown adipose tissue of developing rats. Several aspects of fat metabolism were subsequently investigated and in comparison with euthyroid animals the following anomalies were found. (1) The lipolytic and respiratory responses of the tissue to norepinephrine in vitro were impaired, but the lipolytic response to dibutyryl-cyclic AMP was subnormal. (2) The development of the mitochondria was also impaired, isolated mitochondria having, however, normal respiratory rates. (3) The activity of lipogenic enzymes was reduced to a low level. These anomalies can explain the accumulation of fat in the tissue, but their exact cause requires further investigations owing to the complexity of cretinism.

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