Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Int J Obes (Lond). 2010 Oct;34 Suppl 1:S17-22. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2010.178.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a specialized endothermic tissue in eutherian mammals that protects against hypothermia. Heat production by BAT may also be stimulated by overfeeding as an apparent counter regulatory mechanism to prevent excessive adipose accumulation. Genetic studies in rodents have overwhelmingly demonstrated an antiobesity effect for BAT. There is thus substantial biomedical interest in developing methods to increase the amount or function of BAT as a means to combat obesity. Furthermore, the recent discovery that adult humans have rather significant amounts of active BAT raises speculation that this tissue may naturally affect body weight in humans. Recent advances in our understanding of the transcriptional regulation of brown adipocyte development and adaptive thermogenesis are reviewed here.
棕色脂肪组织（BAT）是恒温哺乳动物中一种特殊的产热组织，可防止体温过低。BAT 的产热也可能因过度喂养而受到刺激，这是一种明显的反向调节机制，以防止脂肪过度积累。啮齿动物的遗传研究压倒性地证明了 BAT 具有抗肥胖作用。因此，人们非常有兴趣开发增加 BAT 数量或功能的方法，作为对抗肥胖的一种手段。此外，最近发现成年人有相当数量的活跃 BAT，这引发了人们的猜测，即这种组织可能会自然影响人体的体重。本文综述了我们对棕色脂肪细胞发育和适应性产热的转录调控的理解的最新进展。
