Fat cell synthesis in pigs assessed after administration of tritiated thymidine in vivo

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
SUMMARY: The aims of this work were to determine the feasibility of using the incorporation of radio-labelled thymidine into fat cell DNAin vivoas an index of cell division in the adipose tissue of young pigs, and to distinguish between the processes of new cell synthesis and the ‘filling’ of existing ‘empty’ cells.Five Large White pigs were given tritiated thymidine as follows: two animals were injected at 2 days of age, two at 9 days of age and one at 40 days of age. The animals were killed at different times after the injection and adipose tissue was removed from various sites. The tissue was separated, using collagenase, into ‘fat cell’ and ‘stromal cell’ fractions. The specific (radio)activity of DNA isolated from each fraction was measured.Fat cell synthesis occurred rapidly in pigs aged between 2 and 40 days of age. It appeared that by 40 days of age the rate of synthesis declined in backfat such that the filling of pre-existing empty fat cells became a more important contributor to the increased mass of adipose tissue than the filling of newly synthesized cells.