Energesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Cambridge, MA, USA.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2012 Feb 6;3:14. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2012.00014. eCollection 2012.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) has been recognized for more than 20 years to play a key role in cold-induced non-shivering thermogenesis (CIT, NST), and body weight homeostasis in animals. BAT is a flexible tissue that can be recruited by stimuli (including small molecules in animals), and atrophies in the absence of a stimulus. In fact, the contribution of BAT (and UCP1) to resting metabolic rate and healthy body weight homeostasis in animals (rodents) is now well established. Many investigations have shown that resistance to obesity and associated disorders in various rodent models is due to increased BAT mass and the number of brown adipocytes or UCP1 expression in various depots. The recent discovery of active BAT in adult humans has rekindled the notion that BAT is a therapeutic target for combating obesity-related metabolic disorders. In this review, we highlight investigations performed in rodents that support the contention that activation of BAT formation and/or function in obese individuals is therapeutically powerful. We also propose that enhancement of brown adipocyte functions in white adipose tissue (WAT) will also regulate energy balance as well as reduce insulin resistance in obesity-associated inflammation in WAT.
棕色脂肪组织（BAT）在 20 多年前就被认为在冷诱导的非颤抖性产热（CIT，NST）和动物体重平衡中起着关键作用。BAT 是一种灵活的组织，可以被刺激（包括动物中的小分子）募集，并在没有刺激的情况下萎缩。事实上，BAT（和 UCP1）对动物（啮齿动物）静息代谢率和健康体重平衡的贡献现在已经得到很好的证实。许多研究表明，各种肥胖模型中对肥胖和相关疾病的抵抗力归因于 BAT 质量和棕色脂肪细胞数量的增加，或者在不同部位 UCP1 的表达增加。最近在成年人类中发现活跃的 BAT 重新点燃了这样一种观点，即 BAT 是治疗肥胖相关代谢紊乱的一个有希望的靶点。在这篇综述中，我们强调了在啮齿动物中进行的研究，这些研究支持了这样一种观点，即肥胖个体中 BAT 的形成和/或功能的激活具有治疗作用。我们还提出，增强白色脂肪组织（WAT）中棕色脂肪细胞的功能也将调节能量平衡，并减少 WAT 中与肥胖相关的炎症中的胰岛素抵抗。
