[Reactive changes in the retroperitoneal brown fatty tissue in rats after adrenalectomy]

Histological, histochemical, electron microscopic and biochemical methods were used to study the ability of retroperitoneal brown adipose tissue to steroidogenesis in 54 normal and adrenalectomized adult albino rats. The activity of glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase in the adipose tissue of "brown" type was established to increase as well as the content of compounds with active carbonyl groups. The size of mtochondria was sharply increased. Biochemical analysis of the brown adipose tissue determined considerable concentration of corticosterone equal to one fifth of the average concentration of this hormone in the adrenocortical tissue. The obtained data indirectly confirm the hypothesis of possible formation of steroid hormones in the retroperitoneal brown adipose tissue in rats.