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Sympathetic activation of brown-adipose-tissue thermogenesis in cachexia

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Bioscience Reports

Abstract

Tumour-bearing mice spontaneously lose weight 8–9 weeks after implantation of a human hypernephroma, in spite of a normal food intake. Resting oxygen consumption was up to 40% higher in these animals than in sham-operated controls, but was significantly reduced by 8-adrenergic blockade with propranolol in the former group. The injection of noradrenaline caused a marked stimulation of the metabolic rate in all the animals, but the greatest response was seen in the cachectic mice. The brown-adipose-tissue mass was similar for both groups, but guanosine diphosphate binding to brownadipose-tissue mitochondria (an index of thermogenic capacity) was significantly increased in turnout-bearing mice, and the injection of noradrenaline 1 h prior to sacrifice caused the greatest stimulation of binding in the cachectic group. These data suggest that the rapid weight loss of tumour-bearing animals may be due to a high metabolic rate which results from sympathetic stimulation of brown-adipose-tissue metabolism. The relevance of these results to cancer-induced cachexia in man is discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, St. George's Hospital Medical School, Tooting, SW17 0RE, London, UK

    S. L. Brooks, N. J. Rothwell & M. J. Stock

  2. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Clifton Avenue, SM2 5PX, Sutton, Surrey, UK

    A. M. Neville & S. Wilson

Authors
  1. S. L. Brooks
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  2. A. M. Neville
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  3. N. J. Rothwell
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  4. M. J. Stock
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  5. S. Wilson
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Brooks, S.L., Neville, A.M., Rothwell, N.J. et al. Sympathetic activation of brown-adipose-tissue thermogenesis in cachexia. Biosci Rep 1, 509–517 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01121584

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01121584

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