Changes in lipid metabolism in diet-induced obesity

Mature male Sprague-Dawley rats fed a powdered Purina Chow diet containing corn oil and condensed milk (CM) were compared to rats fed a Purina Chow diet (control). CM rats gained more weight and consumed more calories over a 73-day period than the control rats. The increased weight gain and body fat in CM rats was accompanied by increased cell number in retroperitoneal and inguinal but not epididymal fat pads while cell size was unchanged in all three pads. After obesity had developed there was an increase in insulin levels, lipolysis, hepatic fatty acid synthesis, and fatty acid oxidation. While CM rats demonstrated hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycerolemia, they maintained normal glucagon and glucose levels. They demonstrated higher rates of fatty acid synthesis in isolated hepatocytes but not in vivo, suggesting that a greater potential for fatty acid synthesis in CM rats was masked in vivo by the inhibitory action of dietary lipids. Beta-oxidation of (1-14C) palmitate in vivo and in vitro, and in vivo ketogenesis were greater in CM than in chow fed rats. These studies demonstrate that, after the development of obesity, CM rats, like genetically obese Zucker rats, are hyperinsulinemic and have elevated levels of fatty acid synthesis. However, unlike obese Zucker rats, CM rats displayed an increase in beta-oxidation. These studies suggest that increased insulin levels and hepatic fatty acid synthesis may contribute to dietary obesity (as they do to genetic obesity), whereas increased fatty acid oxidation in dietary obesity may be a compensatory response to maintain a lower body weight.