Reduced rearing temperature augments responses in sympathetic outflow to brown adipose tissue

Sympathetic outflow to brown adipose tissue (BAT) contributes to both thermoregulation and energy expenditure in rats through regulation of BAT thermogenesis. Acute cold exposure in mature animals augments BAT thermogenesis; however, the enhanced BAT thermogenic response returns to normal shortly after cessation of the cold exposure. In this study, we sought to determine whether cold exposure in early neonatal life could induce enhanced responses in the sympathetic outflow to BAT and whether this altered sympathetic regulation would be sustained after the cold stimulus was removed. BAT sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) was recorded in urethane-chloralose-anesthetized, artificially ventilated rats that were raised from birth in either 18 or 30 degrees C environments and then, at 8 weeks of age, were maintained in 23 degrees C for at least 4 weeks. An acute hypothermic stimulus, disinhibition of a brainstem thermogenic network in the raphe pallidus, or electrical stimulation in this raphe site produced increases in BAT SNA that were twice as great in rats reared at 18 degrees C as in those reared at 30 degrees C. The norepinephrine content of the interscapular BAT (IBAT) and the number of sympathetic ganglion cells projecting to interscapular BAT were 70% greater in the 18 degrees C-reared rats. We conclude that neonatal exposure to a cold environment induces a permanent developmental alteration in the capacity for sympathetic stimulation of BAT thermogenesis that may be mediated, in part, by a greater number of sympathetic ganglion cells innervating BAT in cold-reared animals.