[Fetal and neo-natal development of brown adipose tissue in guinea pigs and rats. Feto-maternal or milk transfer of essential fatty acids : lipogenesis and morphology (author's transl)].

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) lipogenesis (fatty acid, glycerol and CO2 synthesis) and its morphology determined by optical microscopy, were studied in guinea pigs and rats during intra-uterine life and during the suckling period. Following the receptor induction and after the commencement of the hormone sensitive adenylate-cyclase/lipase system (i.e. on the 60th day in guinea pigs, on the 20th day in rats), the fetal BAT releases fatty acids (NEFA) and is capable of allowing the non-shivering thermogenesis. When the maternal diet and, consequently, the fetal or neonatal BAT are supplied with considerable linoleic acid, NEFA contain a large proportion of essential fatty acids. In vitro, the greater the linoleic acid concentration in these NEFA, the less inhibited is the lipogenesis from (2-14C) pyruvate. Thus, in periods just preceding or succeeding birth, fatty acid and glycerol synthesis are higher when the feto-maternal and/or the milk supply are enriched in linoleic acid than when they contain a large proportion of endogenous fatty acids. Morphological studies indicate that the adipose cell evolution could be nonidentical in BAT more or less enriched in essential fatty acids. Linoleic enriched BAT (of animals born to females kept on a sunflower oil diet) seemed to be in a healthy physiological state at birth, perhaps due to rapid lipid renewal and synthesis in their membranes. The control BAT (of animals born to females kept on a lard diet) appeared loaded with fats and in a worse conservation state at the same age.