Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Exp Physiol. 2020 Aug;105(8):1191-1200. doi: 10.1113/EP087875. Epub 2020 May 30.
What is the topic of this review? It has been suggested that human brown adipose tissue (BAT) is more similar to the brite/beige adipose tissue of mice than to classical BAT of mice. The basis of this is discussed in relationship to the physiological conditions of standard experimental mice. What advances does it highlight? We highlight that, provided mouse adipose tissues are examined under physiological conditions closer to those prevalent for most humans, the gene expression profile of mouse classical BAT is more similar to that of human BAT than is the profile of mouse brite/beige adipose tissue. Human BAT is therefore not different in nature from classical mouse BAT.
Since the presence of brown adipose tissue (BAT) was established in adult humans some 13 years ago, its physiological significance and molecular characteristics have been discussed. In particular, it has been proposed that the mouse adipose tissue depot most closely resembling and molecularly parallel to human BAT is not classical mouse BAT. Instead, so-called brite or beige adipose tissue, which is characteristically observed in the inguinal 'white' adipose tissue depot of mice, has been proposed to be the closest mouse equivalent of human BAT. We summarize here the published evidence examining this question. We emphasize the differences in tissue appearance and tissue transcriptomes from 'standard' mice [young, chow fed and, in effect semi-cold exposed (20°C)] versus 'physiologically humanized' mice [middle-aged, high-fat diet-fed mice living at thermoneutrality (30°C)]. We find that in the physiologically humanized mice, classical BAT displays molecular and cellular characteristics that are more akin to human BAT than are those of brite/beige adipose tissues from either standard or physiologically humanized mice. We suggest, therefore, that mouse BAT is the more relevant tissue for translational studies. This is an invited summary of a presentation given at Physiology 2019 (Aberdeen).
这篇综述的主题是什么？有人提出，人类棕色脂肪组织（BAT）与小鼠的米色脂肪组织比与小鼠的典型 BAT 更为相似。本文讨论了这种观点的生理学依据。它强调了哪些进展？我们强调，如果在更接近大多数人类常见生理条件下检查小鼠脂肪组织，那么小鼠典型 BAT 的基因表达谱与人类 BAT 更为相似，而不是与小鼠米色脂肪组织相似。因此，人类 BAT 在本质上与经典的小鼠 BAT 没有区别。
自 13 年前在成年人体内发现棕色脂肪组织（BAT）以来，其生理意义和分子特征一直备受关注。特别是，有人提出，与人类 BAT 最相似且分子上最相似的小鼠脂肪组织库不是经典的小鼠 BAT。相反，所谓的米色或米色脂肪组织，其特征性地存在于小鼠腹股沟“白色”脂肪组织库中，被认为是最接近人类 BAT 的小鼠等效物。我们在这里总结了检查这个问题的已发表证据。我们强调了“标准”小鼠（年轻、喂饲标准饮食、实际上处于半冷暴露状态（20°C））与“生理人源化”小鼠（中年、高脂肪饮食喂养、在体温中性条件下生活（30°C））之间组织外观和组织转录组的差异。我们发现，在生理人源化小鼠中，经典 BAT 显示出的分子和细胞特征与人类 BAT 更为相似，而不是标准或生理人源化小鼠的米色/米色脂肪组织的特征。因此，我们认为，小鼠 BAT 是更相关的转化研究组织。这是在 2019 年生理学会议（阿伯丁）上发表的演讲的邀请摘要。
