Mechanisms of hormonal regulations in brown adipose tissue of developing rats

The need for nonshivering heat production, a principal function of brown adipose tissue, is accentuated in neonates. Accordingly, brown fat in the rat exhibits a very pronounced process of morphological and functional maturation perinatally, reaches a peak in its differentiation and heat-generating capacity within 1-2 weeks after birth, and undergoes involutive changes later in life. The later process of dedifferentiation can be either prevented or reversed by exposing the animals to cold ambient temperature for a prolonged period of time (cold acclimatization). The regulation of both the tissue maturation processes and the superimposed acute heat production are hormone mediated. Thus, the hormone receptor system within the adipocyte membrane and the sequence of molecular events interconnecting the initial hormonal stimulus with its final intracellular effect(s) are of considerable importance. The brown adipocytes of developing rats possess adrenoreceptors that can be pharmacologically classified as beta 1 (linked to adenylate cyclase) and alpha 2 (possibly linked to guanylate cyclase), multiple forms of cyclic nucleotide dependent and independent protein kinases, a protein kinase inhibitor, and at least two distinct phosphoprotein phosphatases associated with three phosphoprotein phosphatase modulators. The characteristics and developmental alterations of these regulatory components were studied in considerable detail by our group during the past decade. The results uncovered several target systems for ontogenic modifications of hormonal responses. Strong support was obtained for the hypothesis that protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation is a major molecular mechanism involved in the regulation of both the brown adipocyte function and its proliferative activity during ontogenic development.