The Journal of nutrition
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The Journal of nutrition · Dec 1982
Effect of cafeteria feeding on brown and white adipose tissue cellularity, thermogenesis, and body composition in rats.
To determine the effects of cafeteria feeding on brown (BAT) and white (WAT) adipose tissue cellularity, thermogenesis and body composition, male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a cafeteria or a Purina chow diet for 52 days postweaning. Interscapular BAT (IBAT) was removed from subgroups of rats on each diet, and the animals continued on the same regimens. The IBAT weight of rats fed cafeteria diets was 160% of controls after 3 days and 220% after 52 days of the dietary regimens, and brown adipocyte numbers were 130 and 300% those of stock diet-fed rats, respectively, during the same period. ⋯ Surgical reduction of IBAT resulted in hypertrophy of WAT and an improved efficiency of weight gain, whereas body composition, WAT cellularity, and the efficiency of weight gain of similarly operated rats fed stock diet were unaltered from those of unoperated animals fed stock diet. These results are consistent with the development of a nutritionally induced hyperplasia and/or differentiation of BAT similar to that which follows cold acclimatization. BAT may play an active role in the expenditure of excess energy during periods of overnutrition, and thereby influence an animal's propensity for fatness.