Refeeding abolishes beneficial effects of severe calorie restriction from birth on adipose tissue and glucose homeostasis of adult rats.

Objectives: Calorie restriction (CR) is an important intervention for reducing adiposity and improving glucose homeostasis. Recently we found that in rats, a severe calorie restriction (SCR) beginning at birth up to adult age promotes positive effects on cardiometabolic risk factors and heart. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of this new model of SCR on adipose tissue and glucose homeostasis of rats and to evaluate the effects of refeeding.
Methods: From birth to 90 d of age, rats were divided into an ad libitum (AL) group, which had free access to food, and a CR50 group, which had food limited to 50% of that consumed by the AL group. From this moment, half of the CR50 animals had free access to food (the refeeding group [CR50-R]), and the other half continued 50% restricted for an additional 90-d period. Food intake was assessed daily and body weight weekly. In the final week of the SCR/refeeding protocol, oral glucose and intraperitoneal insulin tolerance tests were performed. Thereafter, rats were sacrificed and visceral fat was collected and used for histologic and Western blot analysis.
Results: Findings from this study revealed that SCR beginning at birth and up to adult life promoted a large decrease in visceral adiposity; improvement in glucose/insulin tolerance; and upregulation of adipose proliferating cell nuclear antigen, sirtuin 1, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ, and adiponectin. Refeeding abolished all of these effects. SCR from birth to adult age promoted beneficial effects on adipose tissue and glucose homeostasis; whereas refeeding abolished these effects.
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