Department of Medicine, Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Nutrition, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Biol Sex Differ. 2012 May 31;3(1):13. doi: 10.1186/2042-6410-3-13.
Women have more body fat than men, but in contrast to the deleterious metabolic consequences of the central obesity typical of men, the pear-shaped body fat distribution of many women is associated with lower cardiometabolic risk. To understand the mechanisms regulating adiposity and adipose tissue distribution in men and women, significant research attention has focused on comparing adipocyte morphological and metabolic properties, as well as the capacity of preadipocytes derived from different depots for proliferation and differentiation. Available evidence points to possible intrinsic, cell autonomous differences in preadipocytes and adipocytes, as well as modulatory roles for sex steroids, the microenvironment within each adipose tissue, and developmental factors. Gluteal-femoral adipose tissues of women may simply provide a safe lipid reservoir for excess energy, or they may directly regulate systemic metabolism via release of metabolic products or adipokines. We provide a brief overview of the relationship of fat distribution to metabolic health in men and women, and then focus on mechanisms underlying sex differences in adipose tissue biology.
女性的体脂比男性多，但与男性典型的中心性肥胖所带来的有害代谢后果相反，许多女性的梨形体脂分布与较低的心血管代谢风险相关。为了理解调节男女体脂和脂肪组织分布的机制，研究人员高度关注比较脂肪细胞的形态和代谢特性，以及源自不同部位的前体脂肪细胞的增殖和分化能力。现有证据表明，前体脂肪细胞和脂肪细胞可能存在内在的、细胞自主的差异，以及性激素、每个脂肪组织内的微环境和发育因素的调节作用。女性的臀股脂肪组织可能只是为多余的能量提供了一个安全的脂质储存库，或者它们可能通过释放代谢产物或脂肪因子直接调节全身代谢。我们简要概述了脂肪分布与男性和女性代谢健康的关系，然后重点介绍了脂肪组织生物学中性别差异的潜在机制。
