Abstract
Pregnancy and lactation are two physiological situations in which major metabolic adaptations of the mother must occur to sustain the different and varying demands of foetal growth and milk production. The extra energy needs are met by increased food intake and/or by mobilization of stored fuels. The latter are mainly triacylglycerols contained in adipose tissue. In this contribution the changes in adipose tissue lipid metabolism during pregnancy and lactation in the rat and the cellular mechanisms which may control them are discussed. Although alterations in lipid metabolism during reproduction in the rat are more pronounced and therefore easier to measure than in the human, it is likely that the strategies and mechanisms employed are similar. To understand them it is first necessary to outline the regulation of lipid deposition and mobilization in the normal situation. For more wide-ranging reviews of adipose tissue lipid metabolism and its regulation the reader is referred to Saggerson (1985) and Vernon and Clegg (1985) and, for particular information on human adipose tissue, to Galton (1971). Factors regulating the physiological control of body fat distribution in humans are discussed by Leibel and colleagues (1989).
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