Acute Testosterone Deficiency Alters Adipose Tissue Fatty Acid Storage

Michael Scally MD

Doctor of Medicine
10+ Year Member
Santosa S, Bush NC, Jensen MD. Acute testosterone deficiency alters adipose tissue fatty acid storage. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/doi/10.1210/jc.2017-00757/3882600/Acute-testosterone-deficiency-alters-adipose?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Context: Although the long-term effects of testosterone on adipose tissue lipid metabolism in men have been defined, the short-term regulation of these effects is not well understood.

Objective: We examined the effects of acute testosterone withdrawal on subcutaneous abdominal and femoral adipose tissue fatty acid (FA) storage and cellular mechanisms.

Design: This was a prospective, randomized trial.

Setting: Mayo Clinic Clinical Research Unit.

Patients or Other Participants: Thirty-two male volunteers ages 18-50 participated in these studies.

Intervention(s): Volunteers were randomized to receive: 1) no treatment (control), 2) injections (7.5 mg) of Lupron® (Lupron), or 3) Lupron plus testosterone replacement (L+T) for 49 days, resulting in 4 weeks of sex steroid suppression in the Lupron group.

Main Outcome Measures: We measured body composition, fat cell size, adipose tissue meal FA and direct free FA storage, lipoprotein lipase (LPL), acyl CoA synthetase (ACS), diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) activities, and CD36 content.

Results: Compared to control and L+T groups, acute testosterone deficiency resulted in greater femoral adipose tissue meal FA storage rates, fasting and fed LPL activity, and greater ACS activity.

Conclusions: These results suggest that in men, testosterone plays a tonic role in restraining FA storage in femoral adipose tissue via suppression of LPL and ACS activities. FA storage mechanisms in men appear sensitive to short term changes in testosterone concentrations.
 
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