Fonseca-Alaniz Miriam H, Takada Julie, Alonso-Vale Maria Isabel C, Lima Fabio Bessa
Departamento de Fisiologia e Biofísica, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP.
Arq Bras Endocrinol Metabol. 2006 Apr;50(2):216-29. doi: 10.1590/s0004-27302006000200008. Epub 2006 May 23.
The recent progress in the research about the metabolic properties of the adipose tissue and the discovery of its ability to produce hormones that are very active in pathophysiologic as well as physiologic processes is rebuilding the concepts about its biology. Its involvement in conditions like obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, arteriosclerosis, dislipidemias and chronic and acute inflammatory processes indicate that the understanding of its functional capacities may contribute to improve the prognosis of those diseases whose prevalence increased in a preoccupying manner. Here we review some functional aspects of adipocytes, such as the metabolism, its influence on energy homeostasis, its endocrine ability and the adipogenesis, i.e., the potential of pre-adipocytes present in adipose tissue stroma to differentiate into new adipocytes and regenerate the tissue. In addition, we are including some studies on the relationship between the adipose tissue and the pineal gland, a new and poorly known, although, as will be seen, very promising aspect of adipocyte physiology together with its possible favorable repercussions to the therapy of the obesity related diseases.
近期关于脂肪组织代谢特性的研究进展以及其产生在病理生理和生理过程中均具有高活性激素能力的发现，正在重塑有关其生物学特性的概念。脂肪组织与肥胖、2型糖尿病、动脉高血压、动脉硬化、血脂异常以及慢性和急性炎症过程等病症相关，这表明了解其功能能力可能有助于改善那些患病率急剧上升的疾病的预后。在此，我们综述脂肪细胞的一些功能方面，如代谢、其对能量稳态的影响、内分泌能力以及脂肪生成，即脂肪组织基质中存在的前脂肪细胞分化为新脂肪细胞并使组织再生的潜力。此外，我们还纳入了一些关于脂肪组织与松果体之间关系的研究，这是脂肪细胞生理学中一个新的且鲜为人知但很有前景（如后文所见）的方面，及其对肥胖相关疾病治疗可能产生的有利影响。
