Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, Schwerzenbach, Switzerland.
Nat Metab. 2021 Jun;3(6):751-761. doi: 10.1038/s42255-021-00417-4. Epub 2021 Jun 22.
The perception of adipose tissue, both in the scientific community and in the general population, has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. While adipose tissue was thought for a long time to be a rather simple lipid storage entity, it is now recognized as a highly heterogeneous organ and a critical regulator of systemic metabolism, composed of many different subtypes of cells, with important endocrine functions. Additionally, adipose tissue is nowadays recognized to contribute to energy turnover, due to the presence of specialized thermogenic adipocytes, which can be found in many adipose depots. This review discusses the unprecedented insights that we have gained into the heterogeneity of thermogenic adipocytes and their respective precursors due to the technical developments in single-cell and nucleus technologies. These methodological advances have increased our understanding of how adipose tissue catabolic function is influenced by developmental and intercellular communication events.
在过去的 20 年中，人们对脂肪组织的认识，无论是在科学界还是在普通人群中，都发生了巨大的变化。虽然脂肪组织在很长一段时间内被认为是一种相当简单的脂质储存实体，但现在它被认为是一个高度异质的器官，是全身代谢的关键调节剂，由许多不同类型的细胞组成，具有重要的内分泌功能。此外，由于存在专门的产热脂肪细胞，脂肪组织现在被认为有助于能量周转，这些产热脂肪细胞可以在许多脂肪组织中找到。这篇综述讨论了由于单细胞和细胞核技术的发展，我们在产热脂肪细胞及其各自前体细胞的异质性方面获得的前所未有的见解。这些方法学上的进步增加了我们对脂肪组织分解代谢功能如何受到发育和细胞间通讯事件影响的理解。
