Endocrinology, Vol 120, 43-48, Copyright © 1987 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Effect of thyroid hormones and high carbohydrate feeding on gene expression in rat epididymal adipose tissue

CM Cronrath, HC Freake, CN Mariash and JH Oppenheimer

We have determined the messenger RNA activity profiles of epididymal fat in euthyroid, hypothyroid, and hyperthyroid rats as well as in animals fed a high carbohydrate fat-free (lipogenic) diet. Radioautographs of two-dimensional gels of the in vitro translational products of RNA were quantitated by computer-assisted videodensitometry and analyzed by multivariate statistics. Of the 250 spots observed, each presumably representing the translational product of a separate messenger RNA, 21 were responsive to changes in hormonal state. Eighteen increased and two decreased at some stage in the transition from the hypothyroid to the hyperthyroid state. One spot changed in a biphasic manner. Eight products responded to the lipogenic diet, six increasing and two decreasing. Six of these eight spots responded in a similar fashion to thyroid hormone administration. As previously shown for liver, there appears to be a substantial overlap between the genomic response to carbohydrate and thyroid hormone administration. Whereas the carbohydrate-generated changes are largely included in the thyroid-hormone induced alterations, the majority of thyroid hormone responsive changes are not duplicated by the diet. Multivariate analysis showed a clear separation of each state from the others and revealed that it was necessary to monitor only nine spots to achieve an effective separation of the states analyzed.