The Effects of Lipectomy on Remaining Adipose Tissue Depots in the Sprague Dawley Rat

Adult male castrate Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to surgical removal of the right inguinal and both epididymal fat depots. Lipectomized rats were not significantly different from controls in total body fat at approximately 13 weeks after surgery suggesting a compensatory fat gain in response to the lipectomy. Mean wet weight of the major individual fat depots dissected from lipectomized rats exceeded those of the control rats with the exception of surgically excised depots. The generalized trend for the adipose tissue mass to compensate in response to lipectomy was in part due to a partial regeneration of the excised inguinal fat depot. It was observed that the cellular nature of the fat compensation was dependent on the location of the tissue. The major internal depots compensated by a significant increase in average fat cell size, whereas the major subcutaneous depot (inguinal) compensated by a significant increase in the apparent fat cell number with no change in cell size.