Bonet M Luisa, Oliver Paula, Palou Andreu
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Nutrition and Biotechnology-Nutrigenomics, University of the Balearic Islands, Spain.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2013 May;1831(5):969-85. doi: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2012.12.002. Epub 2012 Dec 12.
The role of brown adipose tissue in the regulation of energy balance and maintenance of body weight is well known in rodents. Recently, interest in this tissue has re-emerged due to the realization of active brown-like adipose tissue in adult humans and inducible brown-like adipocytes in white adipose tissue depots in response to appropriate stimuli ("browning process"). Brown-like adipocytes that appear in white fat depots have been called "brite" (from brown-in-white) or "beige" adipocytes and have characteristics similar to brown adipocytes, in particular the capacity for uncoupled respiration. There is controversy as to the origin of these brite/beige adipocytes, but regardless of this, induction of the browning of white fat represents an attractive potential strategy for the management and treatment of obesity and related complications. Here, the different physiological, pharmacological and dietary determinants that have been linked to white-to-brown fat remodeling and the molecular mechanisms involved are reviewed in detail. In the light of available data, interesting therapeutic perspectives can be expected from the use of specific drugs or food compounds able to induce a program of brown fat differentiation including uncoupling protein 1 expression and enhancing oxidative metabolism in white adipose cells. However, additional research is needed, mainly focused on the physiological relevance of browning and its dietary control, where the use of ferrets and other non-rodent animal models with a more similar adipose tissue organization and metabolism to humans could be of much help. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Brown and White Fat: From Signaling to Disease.
棕色脂肪组织在调节能量平衡和维持体重方面的作用在啮齿动物中已广为人知。最近，由于在成年人体内发现了活跃的棕色样脂肪组织，以及白色脂肪组织库中可诱导产生棕色样脂肪细胞（“褐变过程”），人们对这种组织的兴趣再度兴起。出现在白色脂肪库中的棕色样脂肪细胞被称为“brite”（源自“白色中的棕色”）或“米色”脂肪细胞，具有与棕色脂肪细胞相似的特征，特别是解偶联呼吸的能力。关于这些brite/米色脂肪细胞的起源存在争议，但无论如何，诱导白色脂肪褐变代表了一种有吸引力的潜在策略，可用于管理和治疗肥胖症及相关并发症。在此，详细综述了与白色脂肪向棕色脂肪重塑相关的不同生理、药理和饮食决定因素以及其中涉及的分子机制。根据现有数据，使用能够诱导棕色脂肪分化程序（包括解偶联蛋白1表达）并增强白色脂肪细胞氧化代谢的特定药物或食物化合物有望带来有趣的治疗前景。然而，还需要更多研究，主要集中在褐变的生理相关性及其饮食控制方面，在这方面，使用雪貂和其他与人类脂肪组织结构和代谢更相似的非啮齿动物模型可能会有很大帮助。本文是名为“棕色和白色脂肪：从信号传导到疾病”的特刊的一部分。
