Ar. Tagliaferro et al., INCREASED LIPOLYSIS TO BETA-ADRENERGIC STIMULATION AFTER DEHYDROEPIANDROSTERONE TREATMENT IN RATS, American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology, 37(6), 1995, pp. 1374-1380
Young adult male rats were treated with 4 mg dehydroepiandrosterone (D
HEA)/100-g diet for 4 wk or were fed the same purified diet unadultera
ted (51 carbohydrate:20 fat: 23.5 protein; wt/wt). After 1 wk body wei
ght and fat mass of the DHEA-fed rats were significantly less than the
controls. By the end of week 3, fat-free mass of the DHEA rats was le
ss than the controls. Neither food intake nor resting metabolism, meas
ured by indirect calorimetry, was different between groups. Isolated e
pididymal adipocytes of DHEA rats were significantly smaller and isopr
oterenol (x10(7) M) stimulation of glycerol release was 53% greater (P
< 0.01) than the controls. Basal rate of glycerol release increased s
ignificantly for both groups in response to the adenosine inhibitor ad
enosine deaminase; there were no significant interaction effects. Inhi
bition of lipolysis by the adenosine analogue phenylisopropyladenosine
was similar between groups. Findings support the hypothesis that DHEA
reduces adiposity directly by increased lipolysis, but the mechanism
of action does not involve a change in the antilipolytic function of a
denosine.