Recovery of function in sympathetic nerves of interscapular brown adipose tissue of rats treated with 6-hydroxydopamine

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Twenty-four hours after s.c. administration of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) at a dose of 10 mg/kg body wt in warm-acclimated rats, noradrenaline (NA) [norepinephrine] content and dopamine .beta.-hydroxylase (DBH) activity of interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT) were reduced to about 10 and 35% of control values. Corresponding values for cold-acclimated rats, similarly treated, were 12 and 32%. In both groups of animals, calorigenic function in IBAT assessed by measurement of the effect of cold exposure on rate of blood flow through the tissue was lost almost completely. After treatment of rats (24 h) with various doses of 6-OHDA, calorigenesis in IBAT was directly related to residual NA. Measurements of NA content and DBH activity from 1-10 days after 6-OHDA and the increase in IBAT blood flow of cold-exposed animals from 1-7 days after 6-OHDA indicated marked differences in the extent to which each of these indicators of the integrity and function of sympathetic nerve endings recovered with time and with the acclimation temperature of the animals. Regeneration of macromolecular components of noradrenergic vesicles in IBAT appeared to occur more rapidly in cold than in warm-acclimated animals. Moderate doses of 6-OHDA may acutely sympathectomize IBAT, but as previously reported for other tissues, full recovery of function of IBAT occurs long before NA stores are replenished.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: