Voluntary sucrose ingestion, like corticosterone replacement, prevents themetabolic deficits of adrenalectomy

We tested whether corticosterone replacement causes increased sucrose drink ing in adrenalectomized (ADX) rats compared to sham-ADX (sham) rats. ADX ra ts given high doses of corticosterone drank as much sucrose as sham rats, w hereas at three lower doses of corticosterone, drinking was similar between groups and was only approximately 40% of that ingested by shams. Compared to sham rats, ADX rats drinking saline, or saline and saccharin, gain weigh t more slowly, contain less white adipose tissue, and have higher sympathet ic outflow as assessed by uncoupling protein content in brown adipose tissu e. Allowing sucrose as well as saline to drink restored all of these variab les to normal in ADX rats with no- or low-corticosterone. All endpoints fro m sucrose-drinking ADX rats with no-or low-corticosterone were indistinguis hable from those in water-drinking shams. By contrast, sucrose-drinking ADX rats that were given high doses of corticosterone exhibited the usual cata bolic effects of corticosterone on body weight gain and, unlike sucrose-dri nking shams, were obese. We conclude that (i) high corticosterone stimulate s the potability of sucrose and inhibits sympathetic stimulation of uncoupl ing protein; (ii) sucrose, without corticosterone, normalizes metabolic def icits in ADX rats probably through actions mediated both peripherally and b y the central nervous system; and (iii) ADX rats have a distinct sucrose ap petite.