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Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT)

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Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is derived from the mesenchymal precursor cell which also seems to give rise to muscle . BATis located mainly around the neck, paravertebral sites, kidneys and large blood vessels of the thorax. As previously mentioned above, Marcus (1988), demonstrated that TSH induced lipolysis in BAT from newborns and infants but this declined with age. Recent studies have profiled different layers of BAT in adults, particularly in the neck and between the shoulder blades (Nedergaard, 2013). BAT contains multilocular lipid droplets and a high mitochondrial content. Its primary function is to liberate energy as heat via the consumption of stored energy. This is mediated by the uncoupling protein-1 (Ucp-1), which embeds in the inner mitochondrial membrane and produces heat by dissipating the proton electrochemical gradient over the inner mitochondrial membrane space without generating ATP. The energy in BAT? is stored as perilipin coated lipid droplets and glycogen granules. Upon temperature stimulation glucose and fatty acid uptake is rapidly increased to replenish its supplies (reviewed in Sanchez-Gurmaches, 2013).
BRITE adipose tissue occurs within WAT tissue depots, in response to chronic cold exposure. Beige adipose tissue has the characteristics of both white and brown adipocytes. They appear to be like WAT in basal states but upon cold stimulation, they behave like BAT by becoming multilocular and expressing the brown fat marker UCP1. However, they are

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