Effect of diet and exercise on norepinephrine-induced thermogenesis in male and female rats

Male and female rats were fed standard laboratory chow or a highly palatable diet (cafeteria diet) for 10 wk. The cafeteria diet caused an increase in caloric intake and in body weight, and it induced thermogenesis that was associated with elevated plasma triiodothyronine (T3) levels, increased brown adipose tissue size, and enhanced metabolic response to norepinephrine. For a comparable caloric intake, body-weight gain was significantly greater in female than in male rats possibly because of difference in thermogenesis as suggested by the response to norepinephrine. Exercise training (swimming 2 h/day for 10 wk) reduced food intake and body-weight gain and failed to increase norepinephrine-induced thermogenesis in rats fed laboratory chow. In animals fed the cafeteria diet, food intake and body-weight gain were also reduced by exercise training, which at the same time diminished the diet-induced thermogenesis as evidenced by the diminution of 1) brown fat hypertrophy, 2) the elevation of plasma T3, and 3) the hyperthermic response to injected norepinephrine. It is suggested that the thyroid hormone and catecholamines through their actions on the brown adipose tissue are the important regulatory of thermogenesis. Exercise training would reduce the diet-induced thermogenesis by preventing increased T3 production. Enhanced thermogenesis may be considered an adaptive reaction as it serves to reduce fat deposition in animals fed cafeteria diet and to promote nonshivering heat production in the cold. On the other hand, exercise training reduces thermogenesis and thus prevents energy wasting.