Studies on the activity of brown adipose tissue in suckling, pre-obese, ob/ob mice

The properties and activity of brown adipose tissue have been investigated in suckling, pre-obese, ob/ob mice in order to determine whether decreased thermogenesis in the tissue precedes the development of obesity in this mutant. At 14 days of age there was no difference between the ob/ob and normal animals in the total amount of interscapular brown adipose tissue, and the DNA content, protein content, and cytochrome oxidase activity of the tissue were similar in the two groups of mice. Respiration rates of brown adipose tissue mitochondria in the presence of albumin were, however, greater in the normal than the ob/ob animals, although after the addition of GDP to recouple the mitochondria there was no difference between the two groups. The mitochondrial membrane potential, measured with [3H]methyltriphenylphosphonium, was less affected by exogenous GDP in ob/ob mice than in normal animals. GDP binding to brown adipose tissue mitochondria, an index of the proton conductance pathway, was much greater in normal than in ob/ob mice at both 10 and 14 days of age; the decreased GDP binding in the mutant animals was found to result from a reduction in the number of binding sites. It is concluded that brown adipose tissue mitochondria of pre-obese ob/ob mice are more tightly coupled than those of normal siblings, and that the activity of the 'thermogenic' proton conductance pathway is lower in the mutant animals. A decrease in thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue is therefore an early event in the development of the ob/ob mouse and precedes the appearance of obesity.