Modulation by sex hormones of the membranous transducing system regulating fatty acid mobilization in adipose tissue

• Published in: Prostaglandins, leukotrienes and essential fatty acids Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 91 - 100
• Main Authors: Giudicelli, Y., Dieudonne, M.-N., Lacasa, D., Pasquier, Y.-N., Pecquery, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Scotland Elsevier Ltd 1993
• Subjects: Adenylyl Cyclases - metabolism; Adipose Tissue - metabolism; Androgens - pharmacology; Androgens - physiology; Animals; Cell Membrane - physiology; Cricetinae; Estrogens - pharmacology; Estrogens - physiology; Fatty Acids - metabolism; Female; Gonadal Steroid Hormones - pharmacology; Gonadal Steroid Hormones - physiology; Lipolysis - drug effects; Male; Organ Specificity; Rats; Receptors, Adrenergic - drug effects; Receptors, Adrenergic - physiology; Receptors, Cell Surface - drug effects; Receptors, Cell Surface - physiology; Sex Characteristics; Signal Transduction - drug effects
• ISSN: 0952-3278; 1532-2823
• DOI: 10.1016/0952-3278(93)90015-O

This review summarizes recent animal studies performed to determine the possible role played by sex hormones in the sex- and site-related differences characterizing adipocyte lipolytic activity. In both normal female rats and male hamsters, fat cells from deep intra-abdominal sites elicit higher catecholamine-stimulated lipolytic responses than subcutaneous adipocytes. By using ovariectomized rats, it was found that estradiol ‘in vivo’, while having no effect in subcutaneous cells, promotes catecholamine-stimulated lipolysis in deep intra-abdominal adipocytes by increasing their adenylate cyclase catalytic activity. By using castrated hamsters, it was found that both deep intra-abdominal and subcutaneous fat cell lipolytic activities are equally sensitive to testosterone. In these cells, testosterone treatment promotes not only the β-adrenergic lipolytic responses by increasing both the adenylate cyclase catalytic activity and the Gsα level, but also enhances the α2-adrenergic antilipolytic responses through a transcriptional activation of the α2-adrenoceptor expression. These experiments demonstrate that in some, but not all, white adipocytes the adrenergic signal transducing system regulating lipolysis is a target for sex hormones. This finding may have potential importance in the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the sex-related regional specificities of adipose tissue metabolism and distribution.