Visceral fat and total body fat mass correlate differently with hormones in rat

Abstract Forty-eight 67-day-old male Wistar rats (330 ± 5 g) were fed ad libitum either with a lipid enriched diet or a standard laboratory chow. Half of each sub-group was submitted to training. Training and difference in diet composition induced nonsignificant changes in body adiposity. Visceral fat (perirenal adipose tissue mass) was correlated with leptin ( r  = 0.35, p  = 0.02) and insulin ( r  = 0.38, p  = 0.01). Total body fat mass (measured by DEXA) was correlated with leptin only ( r  = 0.58, p  = 0.003). Other correlations between perirenal adipose tissue or fat mass and adiponectin or insulin like growth factor 1 were nonsignificant. These results suggest that, in rat like in human, visceral fat development is linked with insulin insensitivity.