Lowell B B, Flier J S
Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
Annu Rev Med. 1997;48:307-16. doi: 10.1146/annurev.med.48.1.307.
Brown adipose tissue is distinguished by its unique capacity for uncoupled mitochondrial respiration, which is highly regulated by sympathetic nerve activity. Because of this, energy expenditure in brown fat is capable of ranging over many orders of magnitude. The fact that the function of brown adipose tissue is impaired in obese rodents and that transgenic mice with decreased brown fat develop obesity demonstrates the importance of brown fat in maintaining nutritional homeostasis. However, the role of brown fat in humans is less clear. beta 3-Adrenergic receptors are found on brown adipocytes, and treatment with beta 3-selective agonists markedly increases energy expenditure and decreases obesity in rodents. Whether beta 3-selective agonists will be effective anti-obesity agents in humans is presently under investigation.
棕色脂肪组织的独特之处在于其具有解偶联线粒体呼吸的能力，而这一过程受到交感神经活动的高度调节。正因如此，棕色脂肪的能量消耗能够在多个数量级范围内变化。肥胖啮齿动物的棕色脂肪组织功能受损，以及棕色脂肪减少的转基因小鼠会出现肥胖，这些事实都证明了棕色脂肪在维持营养稳态中的重要性。然而，棕色脂肪在人类中的作用尚不清楚。β3-肾上腺素能受体存在于棕色脂肪细胞上，用β3-选择性激动剂治疗可显著增加啮齿动物的能量消耗并减轻肥胖。目前正在研究β3-选择性激动剂在人类中是否会成为有效的抗肥胖药物。
