Surgical ablation of whitened interscapular brown fat ameliorates cardiac pathology in salt‐loaded metabolic syndrome rats

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is an endocrine organ that contributes to thermogenesis and energy consumption. We investigated the effects of salt loading and surgical removal of whitened interscapular BAT (iBAT) on cardiac and adipose tissue pathology in DahlS.Z‐ Lepr fa / Lepr fa (DS/obese) rats, an animal model of metabolic syndrome (MetS). DS/obese rats were subjected to surgical removal of iBAT or sham surgery at 8 weeks of age and were provided with drinking water containing or not containing 0.3% NaCl for 4 weeks beginning at 9 weeks of age. Removal of iBAT suppressed the salt‐induced exacerbation of left ventricular inflammation, fibrosis, and diastolic dysfunction, but not that of hypertension development, in DS/obese rats. Salt loading attenuated adipocyte hypertrophy but enhanced inflammation in both visceral white adipose tissue (WAT) and iBAT. Although iBAT removal did not affect visceral WAT pathology in salt‐loaded DS/obese rats, it attenuated the elevation of circulating interleukin‐6 levels in these animals. Downregulation of uncoupling protein‐1 expression in iBAT of DS/obese rats was not affected by salt loading. Our results suggest that the conversion of iBAT to WAT‐like tissue contributes to a salt‐induced elevation of circulating proinflammatory cytokine levels that leads to exacerbation of cardiac pathology in this model of MetS.