Table 5.

Brown adipose tissue mass, composition, norepinephrine and dopamine concentrations, and cytochrome c oxidase activity at 48 h of age in lambs following prenatal exposure to three levels of dietary copper

Brown adipose tissue item	Dietary Cu concentration1)						SEM	p-values
	Low Cu		Medium Cu		High Cu
	Warm	Cold	Warm	Cold	Warm	Cold		Cu	Temp	Cu×Temp
Mass (g)	19.4	11.6	20.2	10.9	17.7	9.5	0.96	0.22	<0.001	>0.25
Composition (mg/g BAT)
Lipid	436.8	80.3	453.1	79.7	376.5	74.7	28.0	>0.25	<0.001	>0.25
Protein	93.6	134.9	97.5	132.7	96.7	128.8	6.1	>0.25	<0.01	>0.25
Moisture	454.8	751.6	427.7	744.0	465.2	748.2	27.7	>0.25	<0.01	>0.25
DNA	3.34c	4.14b	3.27c	4.41b	3.47bc	5.53a	0.20	<0.001	<0.001	<0.01
Mitochondrial protein (μg/g BAT)	23.58	38.53	25.34	33.63	23.76	37.26	2.70	>0.25	<0.01	>0.25
Cytochrome c oxidase activity (μmol/[min·g BAT])	49.2	160.9	60.4	157.0	53.5	145.5	12.5	>0.25	<0.01	>0.25
Norepinephrine (μg/g BAT)	1.45	0.97	1.19	0.74	0.95	0.82	0.13	0.07	<0.01	>0.25
Dopamine (μg/g BAT)	0.64bc	0.85b	0.67bc	0.83b	0.52c	1.12a	0.10	>0.25	<0.001	0.04

SEM, standard error of the mean; BAT, brown adipose tissue.

¹⁾Low, medium, and high Cu: 3.2, 10, and 20 ppm Cu (DM basis), respectively; warm, 28°C, cold, 6°C temperature exposure.

^a–cValues within a row with common superscripts do not differ (p>0.05).