Effects of epinephrine on regional free fatty acid and energy
metabolism in men and women.
Jensen, Michael D., Philip E. Cryer, C. Michael Johnson, Michael J.
Murray.
Endocrine Research Unit, Department of Radiology, Anesthesia
Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905 and Division of
Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Washington University School
of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110
APStracts 2:0198E, 1995.
Upper-body and lower-body adipocytes respond differently to
physiologic catecholamines in vitro. It is not known whether this is
true in vivo, nor whether gender differences exist in the regional
adipose tissue responses to epinephrine. These studies were therefore
conducted to examine FFA release ([3H]palmitate) from lower-body
(leg), splanchnic, and upper-body adipose tissue in normal weight
adult men (n=8) and women (n=7). In response to intravenous
epinephrine, (10?ng_kg-1_min-1) palmitate release increased
(P<0.01) in both men (168+/-10 to 221+/-15 _mol/min) and in
women (177+/-12 to 234+/-18 _mol/min). Basal leg palmitate release
was similar in women and men (16.8+/-2.9 and 12.4+/-1.3 _mol/min,
P=NS), but doubled (P<0.01) in response to epinephrine in men
and was virtually unchanged in women. Splanchnic palmitate release
increased (P<0.05) in men (n=6) but not in women (n=6); whereas
nonsplanchnic, upper-body palmitate release increased more in women
than in men. Upper-body (splanchnic and nonsplanchnic) palmitate
release increased (P<0.05) in both men and women in response to
epinephrine. In summary, lower-body adipose tissue FFA release
increased in response to epinephrine in men, but not women, whereas
upper-body palmitate release increased in both groups. These findings
are consistent with some in vitro findings and suggest that
catecholamine action may play a role in determining gender-based
differences in body fat distribution.
Received 26 June 1995; accepted in final form 1 September 1995.
APS Manuscript Number E295-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Endocrinol. Metab.).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 6 November 95