Obese rats with lesions of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) exhibited a 3-fold increase in the wet weight of interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT), due to an incresed triglyceride content, compared with lean controls. The rate of lipogenesis in IBAT was much higher than that in white adipose tissues in control rats, but decreased greatly in rats with VMH lesions and approximated the value in white adipose tissues. It was suggested that thermogenesis in BAT was impaired after VMH lesions by decreasing triglyceride turnover in BAT.
