Morphological and Receptorial Changes in the Epididymal Adipose Tissue of Rats Subjected to a Stressful Stimulus

Obesity is nowadays related to other pathological conditions such as inflammation, insulin resistance, and diabetes, but little is known about the relationship between psychological stress and adipocytes. We decided to study the expression of the translocator protein (TSPO) 18-kDa, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma), mitochondrial uncoupling protein-1 (UCP-1), and adipocyte morphology in the adipose tissue of rats subjected to stress conditions. In our model of stress, rats fasted for 24 h were placed in a restraint cage and then immersed vertically to the level of the xiphoid process in a water bath at 23 degrees C for 7 h. After that period, we removed the epididymal adipose tissues for the subsequent analysis. The optical and electron microscopy revealed that adipocytes of control rats formed a continuous epithelial-like cell layer; on the contrary in the adipocytes of stressed rats some cells have merged together and the number of vessels formed seems to increase. Stressed adipocytes presented unilocular cells with numerous mitochondria with a morphology ranging between that of brown adipose tissue (BAT) and white adipose tissue (WAT). Interestingly, when we investigated the subcellular distribution of UCP-1 by immunogold electron microscopy, the adipose tissue of stressed rats was positive for UCP-1. From the immunoblot analysis with anti-PPAR-gamma antibody, we observed an increased expression of PPAR-gamma in the adipocytes of stressed group compared with control group (P < 0.05). Stress induced the expression of TSPO 18-kDa receptor (B-max = 106.45 +/- 5.87 fmol/mg proteins), which is undetectable by saturation-binding assay with [H-3] PK 11195 in the control group.