Knittle J L, Timmers K, Ginsberg-Fellner F, Brown R E, Katz D P
J Clin Invest. 1979 Feb;63(2):239-46. doi: 10.1172/JCI109295.
Adipocyte size and number were determined in 288 subjects ranging in age from 4 mo to 19 yr. The study was performed in 110 obese and 178 non-obese subjects. 4-yr, longitudinal, follow-up studies were also performed in 132 subjects. The results demonstrate that the contribution of cell number and size to the growth of the fat depot in nonobese children varies with age. Deviations from this normal development were observed in obese children shortly after 1 yr of age. By 11 yr of age obese children exceeded the mean cell number found in nonobese adults. Indeed, obese subjects displayed more rapid and earlier elevations in both cell number and size, which were maintained throughout the study. Thus obese children display both quantitative and qualitative differences in fat tissue development when compared to nonobese children. The data indicate that the rate and type of adipose tissue cellular development one encounters in children may play a role in the development of the enlarged fat depots found in obese subjects.
在288名年龄从4个月到19岁的受试者中测定了脂肪细胞的大小和数量。该研究在110名肥胖受试者和178名非肥胖受试者中进行。还对132名受试者进行了为期4年的纵向随访研究。结果表明，在非肥胖儿童中，细胞数量和大小对脂肪库生长的贡献随年龄而变化。在1岁后不久，肥胖儿童就出现了与这种正常发育的偏差。到11岁时，肥胖儿童的平均细胞数量超过了非肥胖成年人。事实上，肥胖受试者的细胞数量和大小在整个研究过程中都表现出更快、更早的升高。因此，与非肥胖儿童相比，肥胖儿童在脂肪组织发育方面表现出数量和质量上的差异。数据表明，儿童时期遇到的脂肪组织细胞发育的速率和类型可能在肥胖受试者中发现的扩大脂肪库的发育中起作用。
