GAP JUNCTIONAL AND SYMPATHETIC NERVE DEVELOPMENT IN THE RAT BROWN ADIPOSE TISSUE

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses gap junctions, which are coupling elements between adjacent brown adipocytes and which permit the exchange of ions and small molecules. In an experiment described in the chapter, the interscapular brown adipose tissue (BAT) of four rats of the following ages was used postpartum: 2 h, 12 h, 2 days, 17 days, and 34 days. A spectrometric method was used in vitro on tissue preparations to evaluate the functional BAT nerve development. It was concluded from this experiment that that gap junctions are correlated with parameters of the tissue activity. BAT is functionally innervated at birth before any catecholamine content can be visualized by the Falk–Hillarp histochemical fluorescent method.