BY CINDY MAY L.

CALIMLIM
ADIPOSE TISSUE

• Typically found isolated or in small

groups within loose or dense irregular
connective tissue.
• Occur in large aggregates in adipose
tissue or “fat” in many organs and body
regions.
2 TYPES OF ADIPOSE TISSUE

1.WHITE ADIPOSE TISSUE

2.BROWN ADIPOSE TISSUE

WHITE ADIPOSE TISSUE

• Adipocytes of white adipose

tissue are spherical when
isolated but are polyhedral when
closely packed in situ.
• white adipocytes are also called
unilocular.

• unilocular adipocytes are often empty in

standard light microscopy Because lipid is
removed from cells by xylene or other
solvents.

• sometimes said to have a signet-ring

appearance, with the lipid droplet
displacing and flattening the nucleus
against the cell membrane
Storage & Mobilization of Lipids

White adipocytes can store triglycerides

derived from three sources:

1. Dietary fats brought to the cells via

the circulation as chylomicrons,

2. Lipids synthesized in the liver and

transported in blood with very-low-
density lipoproteins (VLDLs),

3. Free fatty acids and glycerol

synthesized by the adipocytes.
Chylomicrons
• (Gr. chylos, juice + micros, small)
• Are particles of variable size, up to 1200 nm
in diameter, formed from ingested lipids in
epithelial cells lining the small intestine
and transported in the blood and lymph.
• They consist of a core containing
triglycerides, surrounded by a stabilizing
monolayer of phospholipids, cholesterol, and
several apolipoproteins.
VLDLs
• smaller complexes (30-80 nm, providing a
greater surface-to-volume ratio), of
similar lipid and protein composition to
chylomicrons, but are synthesized from
lipids in liver cells.

• In adipose tissue both chylomicrons and

VLDLs are hydrolyzed at the luminal
surfaces of blood capillaries by
lipoprotein lipase,
• an enzyme synthesized by the
adipocytes and transferred to the
capillary cell membrane.
Insulin

• stimulates glucose uptake by adipocytes

and accelerates its conversion into
triglycerides, and the production of
lipoprotein lipase.

• When adipocytes are stimulated by

nerves or various hormones, stored
lipids are mobilized and cells release
fatty acids and glycerol.
Norepinephrine
• activates a hormone-sensitive lipase
that breaks down triglycerides at the
surface of the stored lipid droplets
when released in adipose tissue.
• Hormonal activity of white adipocytes
includes production of a polypeptide hormone
leptin (Gr. leptos, thin), a “satiety
factor” with target cells in the
hypothalamus, other brain regions, and
peripheral organs which helps regulate the
appetite under normal conditions and
participates in regulating the formation of
new adipose tissue.

• Leptin was discovered and is well studied in genetically

obese mice, but such studies have not yet led to new
treatments for human obesity. In most obese humans
adipocytes produce adequate or excess quantities of leptin,
but target cells are not responsive due apparently to
insufficient or defective receptors or post-receptor signal
transduction.
Histogenesis of White Adipose
Tissue
• Adipocytes develop from
mesenchymal stem cells.

• Adipose development first

produces preadipocytes, which
look rather like larger
fibroblasts with cytoplasmic
lipid droplets.

• Initially the droplets of

white adipocytes are isolated
from one another but soon fuse
to form the single large
droplet.
BEIGE ADIPOCYTES

• White adipocytes develop together with

cells termed beige adipocytes.

• With adaptation to cold temperatures beige

adipocytes change reversibly, forming many
more small lipid droplets, adopting a gene
expression profile more like that of brown
fat, and begin to release heat.
BROWN ADIPOSE TISSUE

• constitutes 2%-5% of the newborn body weight,

located mainly in the back, neck, and
shoulders, but it is greatly reduced during
childhood and adolescence.

• In adults it is found only in scattered areas,

especially around the kidneys, adrenal glands,
aorta, and mediastinum.
• The color of brown fat is due to
both the very abundant mitochondria
(containing cytochrome pigment)
scattered among the lipid droplets
of the fat cells and the large
number of blood capillaries in this
tissue.

• Brown adipocytes contain many small

lipid inclusions and are therefore
called multilocular.
FUNCTION OF BROWN ADIPOCYTES
• Heat production and warming the
blood.

• Heat production in brown adipocytes

is greater than that of other cells
because their inner mitochondrial
membranes have greatly upregulated
levels of the transmembrane protein
uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) or
thermogenin.
Histogenesis of Brown Adipose Tissue

• Develops from mesenchyme, but involves

preadipocytes in a different embryonic
location (paraxial) from those producing
white adipose tissue.

• Emerge earlier than white fat during

fetal development.

• The number of brown adipocytes increases

during cold adaptation, usually appearing
as clusters of multilocular cells in
white adipose tissue.
REFERENCES:
JUNQUEIRA’S BASIC HISTOLOGY TEXT AND ATLAS
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