Adipose tissue is a type of connective tissue of animal organisms, formed from mesenchyme and consisting of fat cells - adipocytes . The specific function of which is the accumulation and exchange of fat . Almost the entire fat cell is filled with a fat drop surrounded by a rim of the cytoplasm with the cell nucleus pushed to the periphery.
In vertebrates, adipose tissue is located mainly under the skin ( subcutaneous fat ) and in the omentum , between organs, forming soft elastic pads. In most cases, it is a round, yellow, jelly-like body.
The main physiological significance of adipose tissue: it protects the body from heat loss and has the function of an energy depot (during starvation, the amount of fat in the cells decreases, with enhanced nutrition it increases). In aquatic mammals living in the cold waters of the Arctic and Antarctic , the layer of subcutaneous fatty tissue reaches a significant thickness (up to 50 cm in some whales ). Excessive development of adipose tissue in humans leads to obesity .
The size of fat cells can reach 1 mm.
Adipose tissue is divided into white and brown . Converting white adipose tissue to brown is a promising strategy in the treatment of obesity [1] .
See also
- Fat body
- Liposuction
Notes
- ↑ Giordano A., Frontini A., Cinti S. Convertible visceral fat as a therapeutic target to curb obesity (Eng.) // Nat. Rev. Drug Discov . - 2016. - Vol. 15 . - P. 405-424 . - DOI : 10.1038 / nrd.2016.31 .
Literature
- Kershaw EE, Flier JS Adipose tissue as an endocrine organ (Eng.) // J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab .. - 2004. - Vol. 89 , no. 6 . - P. 2548–56 . - DOI : 10.1210 / jc.2004-0395 . - PMID 15181022 .
- Cannon B., Nedergaard J. Developmental biology: Neither fat nor flesh (Eng.) // Nature. - 2008 .-- Vol. 454 , no. 7207 . - P. 947–948 . - DOI : 10.1038 / 454947a . - PMID 18719573 .
- Cinti S. The adipose organ (English) // Prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and essential fatty acids. - 2005. - Vol. 73 . - P. 9-15 . - DOI : 10.1016 / j.plefa.2005.04.010 . - PMID 15936182 .
- Adipose tissue // Big Russian Encyclopedia : [35 t.] / Ch. ed. Yu.S. Osipov . - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2004—2017.