Abstract
The white adipose tissue (WAT) exhibits great plasticity and can undergo “browning” and acquire features of the brown adipose tissue (BAT), which takes place following cold exposure, chronic endurance exercise or β3-adrenergic stimulation. WAT that underwent browning is characterized by the presence of “beige” adipocytes, which are morphologically similar to brown adipocytes, express uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) and are considered thermogenically competent. Thus, inducing a BAT-like phenotype in the WAT could promote energy dissipation within this depot, reducing the availability of substrate that would otherwise be stored in the WAT. Importantly, BAT in humans only represents a small proportion of total body mass, which limits the thermogenic capacity of this tissue. Therefore, browning of the WAT could significantly expand the energy-dissipating capacity of the organism and be of therapeutic value in the treatment of metabolic diseases. However, the question remains as to whether WAT indeed changes its metabolic profile from an essentially fat storage/release compartment to an energy dissipating compartment that functions much like BAT. Here, we discuss the differences with respect to thermogenic capacity and metabolic characteristics between white and beige adipocytes to determine whether the latter cells indeed significantly enhance their capacity to dissipate energy through UCP1-mediated mitochondrial uncoupling or by the activation of alternative UCP1-independent futile cycles.
Funding source: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Award Identifier / Grant number: RGPIN 2016-05358
Funding source: Canada Foundation for Innovation
Funding source: Ontario Research Foundation
Award Identifier / Grant number: RBC
Funding statement: This research was funded by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (RGPIN 2016-05358) and by infrastructure grants from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Ontario Research Fund (ORF) awarded to RBC. DMSK was supported by the Elia Scholarship and the NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Doctoral Scholarship.
Author Statement
Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Informed consent: Informed consent is not applicable.
Ethical approval: The conducted research is not related to either human or animals use.
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Articles in the same Issue
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- The “adipose tissue expandability” hypothesis: a potential mechanism for insulin resistance in obese youth
- Obesity associated disease risk: the role of inherent differences and location of adipose depots
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- Vitamin D metabolism in human adipose tissue: could it explain low vitamin D status in obesity?
- Mini Review
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- Review Article
- White and beige adipocytes: are they metabolically distinct?
- Original Article
- Pilot study: whole body manual subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) therapy improved pain and SAT structure in women with lipedema
Articles in the same Issue
- Review Articles
- The “adipose tissue expandability” hypothesis: a potential mechanism for insulin resistance in obese youth
- Obesity associated disease risk: the role of inherent differences and location of adipose depots
- Mini Review Article
- Vitamin D metabolism in human adipose tissue: could it explain low vitamin D status in obesity?
- Mini Review
- Neck adipose tissue – tying ties in metabolic disorders
- Review Article
- White and beige adipocytes: are they metabolically distinct?
- Original Article
- Pilot study: whole body manual subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) therapy improved pain and SAT structure in women with lipedema