Abstract
We have found that cold- and norepinephrine-induced brown adipose tissue (BAT) nonshiveringthermogenesis (NST) is significantly lower in old male Fischer 344 rats and is associatedwith the decreased ability of these animals to maintain homeothermy. This decline in BATthermogenesis is not as great in females. Although the mechanism(s) underlying this genderdifference in the age-related decrease in brown fat NST are not completely elucidated, theydo not appear to reflect decreased sympathetic neural activity of BAT in the older males vs.females. Rather, our investigations, strongly suggest that the blunted cold-induced heatproduction of BAT reflects less functional BAT. The fact that the older animals have less functionalBAT than do their younger counterparts may predispose them to the accumulation of excessbody fat. Our studies have also found that near the end of the natural life of these rats, theyenter a state of senescence that can be identified by spontaneous rapid body weight loss,resulting from decreased food intake. In this state, the rats are considerably more susceptibleto cold than are comparably aged presenescent (body weight stable) rats of the samechronological age. The greater hypothermia exhibited by the senescent vs. presenescent rats during coldexposure is associated with a significant reduction in the amount of functional brown fat andin the amount of heat each brown fat cell can generate. It is the intent of this review to discussthe findings of these investigations.
REFERENCES
Blanton, C. A., Horwitz, B. A., Murtagh-Mark, C., Gietzen, D. W., Griffey, S. M., and McDonald, R. M. (1998). Amer. J. Physiol. 275, R1494-R1502.
Brodie, B. B., Costa, E., Dlabac, A., Neff, N. H., and Smookler, H. H. (1966). J. Pharmacol. Exp. Therap. 154(721), 493-498.
Collins, K. J. (1987). Brit. J. Hosp. Med. 38, 506-514.
Cristofalo, V. J., and Pignolo, R. J. (1995). in Handbook of Physiology, Section 11: Aging(Masoro, E. J., ed.), Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 53-82.
Falk, B., Bar-Or, O., Smolander, J., and Frost, G. (1994). J. Appl. Physiol. 76, 72-78.
Florez-Duquet, M., Horwitz, B. A., and McDonald, R. B. (1998). Amer. J. Physiol. 274, R196-R203.
Foster, D. O., and Frydman, M. L. (1978). Can. J. Physiol. Pharmacol. 56, 110-122.
Foster, D. O., and Frydman, M. L. (1979). Can. J. Physiol. Pharmacol. 57, 257-270.
Gabaldon, A. M., Florez-Duquet, M. L., Hamilton, J. S., McDonald, R. B., and Horwitz, B. A.(1995). Amer. J. Physiol. 268, R931-R941.
Gabaldon, A. M., McDonald, R. B., and Horwitz, B. A. (1998). Amer. J. Physiol. 274, E726-E736.
Gruenewald, D. A., Marck, B. T., and Matsumoto, A. M. (1996). Endocrinology 137, 4460-4467.
Himms-Hagen, J. (1985). In New Perspectives in Adipose Tissue: Structure, Function and Development(Cryer, A., and Van, R. L. R., eds.), Butterworths, London, pp. 199-222.
Himms-Hagen, J., Cui, J., and Sigurdson, S. L. (1990). Neurochem. Intern. 17, 271-279.
Horvath, S. M., Radcliffe, C. E., Hutt, B. K., and Spurr, G. B. (1955). J. Appl. Physiol. 8, 145-148.
Huguet, F. E., Comoy, E., Piriou, A., and Bohuon, C. (1993). Brain Res. 625, 256-260.
Inoue, Y., Nakao, M., Araki, T., and Ueda, H. (1992). Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. Occup. Physiol. 65, 492-498.
Kawate, R., Talan, M. I., and Engel, B. T. (1993). J. Gerontol. 48, B180-B183.
Lee, T. F., and Wang, L. C. H. (1985). Life Sci. 36, 2025-2032.
Lonergan, E. T. (1991). pp. 60, National Academy Press, Washington, D. C.
Martin, G. R., Danner, D. B., and Holbrook, N. J. (1993). Annu. Rev. Med 44, 419-429.
Mazzeo, R. S., and Grantham, P. A. (1989). J. Appl. Physiol. 66, 1506-1508.
McCarter, R. J. (1995). In HandBook of Physiology: Aging(Masoro, E. J., ed.), Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 95-118.
McCue, J. D. (1996). JAMA 273, 1039-1043.
McDonald, R. B., Stern, J. S., and Horwitz, B. A. (1987). Exp. Gerontol. 22, 409-420.
McDonald, R. B., Horwitz, B. A., Hamilton, J. S., and Stern, J. S. (1988). Amer. J. Physiol. 254, R457-R462.
McDonald, R. B., Hamilton, J. S., Stern, J. S., and Horwitz, B. A. (1989a). Amer. J. Physiol. 256, R1069-R1075.
McDonald, R. B., Day, C., Carlson, K., Stern, J. S., and Horwitz, B. A. (1989b). Amer. J. Physiol. 257, R700-R704.
McDonald, R. B., Hamilton, J. S., and Horwitz, B. A. (1993). Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 204, 117-121.
McDonald, R. B., Murtagh, C. M., and Horwitz, B. A. (1994). Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 207, 102-109.
McDonald, R. B., Florez-Duquet, M., Murtagh-Mark, C., and Horwitz, B. A. (1996). Amer. J. Physiol. 271, R1115-R1122.
McDonald, R. B., Hoban-Higgins, T. M., Ruhe, R. C., Fuller, C. A., and Horwitz, B. A. (1999). Amer. J. Physiol., in press.
Mooradian, A. D., and Scarpace, P. J. (1991). Neurochem. Res. 16, 447-451.
Morrow, L. A., Linares, O. A., Hill, T. J., Sanfield, J. A., Supiano, M. A., Rosen, S. G., and Halter, J. B. (1987). J. Clin. Endocrinol. Met. 65, 508-511.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) (1989). Older and Wiser: The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, NIH Publication No. 892797 Ed., U.S. Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Palmer, R. M. (1990). Geriatrics 45, 47-55.
Pfeifer, M. A., Weinberg, C. R., Cook, D., Best, J. D., Reenan, A., and Halter, J. B. (1983). Amer. J. Med. 75, 249-258.
Poehlman, E. T., and Horton, E. S. (1990). In Annual Review of Nutrition(Olson, R. E., Bier, D. M., and McCormick, D. B., eds. Vol. 10, Annual Reviews, Palo Alto, CA, pp. 225-275.
Poehlman, E. T., McAuliffe, T., and Danforth, E. (1990). Amer. J. Physiol. 258, E256-262.
Rehnmark, S., Nechad, M., Herron, D., Cannon, B., and Nedergaard, J. (1990). J. Biol. Chem. 265, 16464-16471.
Roberts, S., Fuss, P., and Heyman, M. (1994). J. Amer. Med. Assoc. 272, 1601-1606.
Rolls, B. J., Dimeo, K., and Shide, D. (1995). Amer. J. Clin. Nutr. 62, 923-931.
Rowe, J. W., and Troen, B. R. (1980). Endocrinol. Rev. 1, 167-179.
Sarkisian, C. A., and Lachs, M.S. (1996). Ann. Intern. Med. 124, 1072-1078.
Scarpace, P. J., and Matheny, M. (1991). Amer. J. Physiol. 260, E226-E231.
Scarpace, P. J., Mooradian, A. D., and Morley, J. E. (1988). J. Gerontol. 43, B65-70.
Scarpace, P. J., Lowenthal, D. T., and Tumer, N. (1992). Exp. Gerontol. 27, 169-177.
Scarpace, P. J., Matheny, M., and Borst, S. E. (1992). Amer. J. Physiol. 262, E185-E190.
Scarpace, P. J., Matheny, M., Borst, S., and Tumer, N. (1994). Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 205, 154-161.
Scarpace, P. J., Tse, C., and Matheny, M. (1996). Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 211, 374-380.
Schaefer, V. I., Talan, M. I., and Shechtman, O. (1996). J. Gerontol. 51A, B38-B42.
Shu, Y., and Scarpace, P. J. (1994). J. Cardiovasc. Pharmacol. 23, 188-193.
Silva, J. E., and Larsen, P. R. (1986). Amer. J. Physiol. 251, E639-E643.
Sugawa, M., and May, T. (1993). Brain Res. 618, 57-62.
Supiano, M. A., Linares, O. A., Smith, M. J., and Halter, J. B. (1990). Amer. J. Physiol. 259, E422-E431.
Talan, M. I., and Ingram, D. K. (1986). Mech. Aging Develop. 33, 247-256.
Tatelman, H. M., and Talan, M. I. (1990). J. Gerontol. 45, B215-219.
Wagner, J. A., and Horvath, S. M. (1985). J. Appl. Physiol. 58, 180-186.
Wilson, P. D., and Dillingham, M. A. (1992). Gerontology 38, 315-321.
Ziegler, M. G., Lake, C. R., and Kopin, I. J. (1976). Nature (London) 261, 333-335.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McDonald, R.B., Horwitz, B.A. Brown Adipose Tissue Thermogenesis During Aging and Senescence. J Bioenerg Biomembr 31, 507–516 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005404708710
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005404708710