Effects of age and cell size on rat adipose tissue metabolism

In order to analyze separately the effects of cell size and age on the metabolism of rat adipose tissue, fat cells of different sizes were obtained from the same animals. The rats were 4 or 15 wk old. The results show that age as well as cell size influences the metabolic rates. At a given cell size, the basal lipolysis, the lipolytic effects of glucagon and noradrenaline, the rate of glucose incorporation into the triglycerides, and the effect of insulin on glucose metabolism were considerably increased in the young animals. Furthermore, irrespective of fat cell size the lipolytic action of glucagon was reduced in old animals. The data thus show that experiments with large fat cells from old rats and with small cells from young animals cannot be directly compared because both variables may influence metabolic reactions.