Schulz L O
J Am Diet Assoc. 1987 Jun;87(6):761-4.
The role of brown adipose tissue in the development and maintenance of obesity has been a recent focus of research efforts. Brown fat serves as a heat-producing tissue, via nonshivering and diet-induced thermogenesis, because of a unique mechanism that uncouples oxidative phosphorylation. The importance of these forms of thermogenesis to energy balance has been characterized in animal models of obesity; increased metabolic efficiency has been attributed to impaired heat production and compositional and functional alterations in brown fat. Although the possibility exists that human obesity may partly result from inadequate thermogenesis, evidence that the defect is related to brown fat is tenuous. Currently, the contribution of brown fat to metabolic rate in human beings has been estimated as minor. However, even if it is found that differences in brown fat cannot explain differences in corpulence, interest in the tissue will likely continue. Because of its ability to waste calories, the potential for manipulating body weight by stimulation of brown fat remains a promising field of investigation.
棕色脂肪组织在肥胖症发生发展及维持过程中的作用，一直是近期研究工作的重点。棕色脂肪作为一种产热组织，通过非寒战性产热和饮食诱导产热，这是由于一种独特的机制使氧化磷酸化解偶联。这些产热形式对能量平衡的重要性已在肥胖动物模型中得到表征；代谢效率的提高归因于产热受损以及棕色脂肪的组成和功能改变。尽管人类肥胖可能部分源于产热不足，但棕色脂肪与肥胖缺陷相关的证据并不确凿。目前，棕色脂肪对人类代谢率的贡献被估计较小。然而，即便发现棕色脂肪的差异无法解释肥胖程度的差异，对该组织的研究兴趣可能仍会持续。由于其消耗热量的能力，通过刺激棕色脂肪来控制体重的潜力仍是一个很有前景的研究领域。
