High-energy diets produce different effects on fatty acid synthesis in brown adipose tissue, white adipose tissue and liver in the rat.

The influence of feeding rats a high-energy diet for 7 days on fatty acid synthesis in brown adipose tissue, white adipose tissue and liver of the rat was investigated. The incorporation of 3H2O and [U-14C]glucose into fatty acid was measured in vivo. The rats fed the high-energy diets had higher rates of fatty acid synthesis in white adipose tissue than the controls fed on chow, while fatty acid synthesis in brown adipose tissue and liver was either decreased or unchanged relative to that of controls fed on chow. After an oral load of [U-14C]glucose the incorporation of radioactivity into tissue fatty acid was several-fold higher in brown adipose tissue than in white adipose tissue in rats fed on chow. In rats fed the high-energy diets, incorporation of radioactivity into fatty acid in brown adipose tissue was decreased while that into white adipose tissue was either increased (Wistar rats) or unchanged (Lister rats).