Exposure to predator threat engages sympathetic nervous system outflow to skeletal muscle

As obesity and overweight continue to be a public health burden throughout the world, approaches to increase energy expenditure (EE) are sought to reverse the energy imbalance underlying weight gain. Skeletal muscle is a promising target for enhancing energy expenditure. We have previously shown that exposure to predator odor induces skeletal muscle thermogenesis and results in increased physical activity, energy expenditure, and weight loss in rats. Prior evidence supports the importance of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation of skeletal muscle through β adrenergic receptors. Here, we measured norepinephrine turnover (NETO) rate to demonstrate that predator threat increases SNS outflow to skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue (BAT), as well as some white adipose depots, in rats. We surgically excised the primary BAT depot to probe the potential contribution of BAT to muscle thermogenesis. Rats lacking interscapular BAT (iBATX) showed no discernable deficit in predator odor-induced muscle thermogenesis, but showed some differential response to the β3 adrenergic agonist CL-316,243. Altogether, this reaffirms the importance of SNS outflow to skeletal muscle in the thermogenesis elicited by predator threat.