Pond Caroline M, Mattacks Christine A
Department of Biology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom.
J Morphol. 1985 Aug;185(2):183-193. doi: 10.1002/jmor.1051850204.
Total dissection of a randomly collected sample of 202 adult and subadult eutherian mammals, combined with site-specific adipocyte volume determination, shows that the number of adipocytes in the body is proportional to (Body Mass) for predominantly carnivorous species and to (Body Mass) for mainly herbivorous, nonruminant mammals. Adipocyte expansion or shrinkage, not proliferation or depletion of adipocyte number, is the principal mechanism of adipose tissue enlargement and reduction. Therefore, the adipocytes of large mammals are larger than those of smaller specimens of similar dietary habits and fatness. We suggest that the presence of more numerous, smaller adipocytes in smaller mammals is related to their higher mass-specific metabolic rate. The adipose tissue of mammals with a predominantly carnivorous diet contains 4.6 times as many adipocytes as that of herbivorous nonruminants of similar body mass; but nonruminant herbivores are not necessarily fatter because the adipocytes of carnivorous mammals are proportionately smaller than those of nonruminant herbivores. We suggest that a carbohydrate-based energy metabolism is associated with fewer, relatively larger adipocytes and that when lipids and proteins form the major dietary energy source, adipose tissue consists of a greater number of smaller adipocytes.
对随机采集的202只成年和亚成年真兽类哺乳动物样本进行全面解剖，并结合特定部位脂肪细胞体积的测定，结果显示，对于主要为肉食性的物种，体内脂肪细胞的数量与（体重）成正比，而对于主要为草食性的非反刍哺乳动物，脂肪细胞数量与（体重）成正比。脂肪组织增大和减少的主要机制是脂肪细胞的膨胀或收缩，而非脂肪细胞数量的增殖或减少。因此，大型哺乳动物的脂肪细胞比具有相似饮食习惯和肥胖程度的小型哺乳动物的脂肪细胞更大。我们认为，小型哺乳动物中存在更多数量、更小的脂肪细胞与它们较高的质量比代谢率有关。主要以肉食为主的哺乳动物的脂肪组织中脂肪细胞数量是体重相似的草食性非反刍动物的4.6倍；但非反刍草食动物不一定更胖，因为肉食性哺乳动物的脂肪细胞相对小于非反刍草食动物的脂肪细胞。我们认为，基于碳水化合物的能量代谢与数量较少、相对较大的脂肪细胞有关，而当脂质和蛋白质构成主要饮食能量来源时，脂肪组织由大量较小的脂肪细胞组成。
