White adipose tissue

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White adipose tissue
Illustration depicting white fat cells.
Details
Identifiers
Latintextus adiposus albus
MeSHD052436
THH2.00.03.4.00002
FMA20117
Anatomical terminology

White adipose tissue or white fat is one of the two types of adipose tissue found in mammals. The other kind is brown adipose tissue. White adipose tissue is composed of monolocular adipocytes.

In humans, the healthy amount of white adipose tissue varies with age, but composes between 6-25% of body weight in adult men and 14-35% in adult women.[1][additional citation(s) needed]

Its cells contain a single large

glucocorticoids
.

White adipose tissue is used for energy storage. Upon release of insulin from the

noradrenaline[citation needed
]. Fatty acids are taken up by muscle and cardiac tissue as a fuel source, and glycerol is taken up by the liver for gluconeogenesis.

White adipose tissue also acts as a thermal insulator, helping to maintain body temperature.

The hormone leptin is primarily manufactured in the adipocytes of white adipose tissue[7] which also produces another hormone, asprosin.

Location and morphology

Distribution of white adipose tissue in the human body.

White adipose tissue is most abundant in mammals and its distribution greatly varies among different species.

visceral adipose tissue is part of the intra-abdominal adipose tissue that surrounds the intestine for the most part.[8] White adipose tissue exists mostly as a single adipocytes in the subcutaneous tissue.[9]

Development

In humans, white adipose tissue starts to develop during early to mid-gestation period. White adipose tissue consists of white adipocytes, which are the lipid storage cells. They are differentiated from undifferentiated preadipocytes through transcriptional cascade. This process is regulated by the

nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), a protein regulating gene involved in regulation of fatty acid storage and glucose metabolism and members of the CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein family, type of transcription factors that promotes gene expression.[10]
PPARγ is required for both the adipogenesis and maintenance of the adipocytes.

White adipose tissue exists in various depots that may have different types of adipocytes.[8] That is, different depots in different locations have different intrinsic properties. This led to various theories to find the adipogenic lineage of the white adipose tissue depots. A hypothesis is that the precursors for the different types of adipocytes are mesenchymal stem cells which differentiates by the influence of specific gene expression into specialized white preadipocytes. Such genes are Shox2, En1, Tbx15, HoxC9, HoxC8, and HoxA5.[8] The study of the gene expression is important as they can be indicative of various health issues such as obesity related risk factors including diabetes and metabolic conditions.

References

  1. ^ AACE/ACE Obesity Task Force (1998). "AACE/ACE position statement on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of obesity". Endocr Pract. 4 (5).
  2. PMID 11344211
    .
  3. PMID 4893399
    .
  4. PMID 164126
    .
  5. S2CID 12459319
    .
  6. PMID 8572197
    .
  7. PMID 23580174
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-3-319-52031-5
    .
  9. ISBN 978-3-211-99390-3
    .
  10. PMID
    23652116
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