Adrenergic Innervation of Brown Adipose Tissue from the Ground Squirrel (Citellus richardsonii)

Determinations of noradrenaline (NA) content and observations of histochemical fluorescence were carried out on the axillary brown fat pad of ground squirrels Citellus richardsonii kept at two temperatures, 20 °C and 5 °C. For comparison, NA content of hearts and intrathoracic brown adipose tissue were also determined. Like interscapular brown adipose tissue from cold-acclimated rats, the axillary brown fat of cold-acclimated ground squirrels contained a high level of NA. The NA content of the fat pad from ground squirrels living at 20 °C, however, though somewhat lower was not statistically different from that of the fat pad from the cold-acclimated animals. Fine adrenergic nerve fibers were observed between the adipocytes and more intense and extensive networks were present around arterioles. The density of adrenergic innervation appeared similar in the axillary brown fat of the two groups. The NA content of the hearts of ground squirrels living at 5 °C was lower than that for hearts from animals at 20 ...