Metabolic integrity and stability of isolated rat brown adipocytes

Using rats previously anesthetized with pentobarbital and with subtle modifications to existing procedures, rat brown adipocytes of good yield, viability, and stability were consistently obtained. The metabolic integrity of the cells, indicated by an 8-11 fold norepinephrine-dependent stimulation of respiration, was reproducible between cell preparations and maintained even after 3-5 hours of cell storage at room temperature. The ATP content of freshly isolated and stored cells per mg DNA (using a modified DNA assay) closely reflected the in vivo content determined from freeze clamped tissue.