ADIPOSE TISSUE, COLLAGEN AND ELASTIN

ADIPOSE TISSUE
 Adipose tissue, otherwise known as body fat, is a connective
tissue that extends throughout your body. It’s found under your
skin (subcutaneous fat), between your internal organs (visceral
fat) and even in the inner cavities of bones (bone marrow
adipose tissue).

 Adipose tissue contains nerve cells and blood vessels and

communicates through hormone signals with other organs
throughout your body.

 Adipose tissue is composed primarily of adipocytes or fat cells.

These comprise lipid storage droplets, which contain
triacylglycerol and vary in size depending on the amount of
stored fat.
Adipose Tissue Location and Structure

Adipose tissue is found throughout your body. The primary depots are:
 Parietal fat is also called subcutaneous fat that is found present
under the skin.

 Visceral fat is found surrounding the internal organs such as

eyeballs or kidneys.

 Other locations include:

 In bone marrow.
 In breast tissue.
 Between muscles.
 Around your heart.
 In your eye sockets.
 In the palms of your hands and soles of your feet.
 ADIPOCYTES
 Adipocytes are the building blocks of adipose tissue. They are also
known as fat cells or adipose cells. The adipocytes are divided into
two types depending on the distribution of two types of adipose
tissue.

 White Adipose Tissue (WAT): White adipocytes are most

abundant, appearing throughout your body as subcutaneous fat,
visceral fat and bone marrow fat.

 White fat cells (adipocytes) have a simple structure composed of a

single lipid droplet (fat molecule) and a few cellular organelles.
They provide energy storage, insulation from extreme
temperatures and cushioning around soft organs. WAT also
includes other cell types, called stromal vascular fraction (SVF)
cells.
WHITE ADIPOSE TISSUE - FUNCTIONS
In general, white adipocytes function to
(1) take up mainly fatty acids, glucose and amino acids

(2) synthesize and store lipid in the form of triacylglycerol droplets

(3) hydrolyze the stored lipid, and

(4) release free fatty acid into the vasculature. In addition to white adipocytes,
one can distinguish macrophages, fibroblasts, mast cells, and occasional white
blood cells in WAT.

(5) Together, these cells secrete hormones that help regulate energy balance,
hunger and satiety, metabolism and inflammatory response
Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT): Brown Adipocytes in humans is
mostly present in infancy and diminishes with age. It’s located
primarily in your upper back.

Brown adipocytes (fat cells) are more complex than white

adipocytes, containing multiple lipid droplets and many cellular
organelles. The iron content in these organelles gives brown fat
cells their color. These organelles enable the brown adipocytes to
generate a large amount of heat. This is the primary function of
BAT — to generate heat through a process called non-shivering
thermogenesis, which helps protect infants from hypothermia.

Thus, BAT functions as a thermogenic organ during cold-stress,

arousal from hibernation, and in various newborn animals.
GENERAL FUNCTIONS OF ADIPOSE TISSUE
Body fat serves many important functions, including:
 Energy storage and release.
 Insulation from cold and heat.
 Cushioning around soft organs.
 Regulating hunger and satiety.
 Maintaining energy balance.
 Regulating glucose and cholesterol.
 Maintaining insulin sensitivity.
 Generating thermogenic heat.
 Contributing to immunity.
 Metabolizing sex hormones
COLLAGEN
 Structure: Collagen has a distinctive amino acid composition:
Nearly one-third of its residues are Gly; another 15 to 30% of
them are Pro and 4-hydroxyprolyl (Hyp) residues. Collagen’s
three polypeptide chains are parallel and wind around each
other with a gentle, right-handed, ropelike twist to form a triple
helical structure.

 Function: It is the most abundant of the fibrous protein

organized into insoluble fibers and represents a primary source
of great structural and tensile strength for cells of connective
tissues such as bone, teeth, cartilage, tendon, ligament, and the
fibrous matrices of skin and blood vessels.
Structure/function relationship: 4-hydroxyprolyl (Hyp) confers
stability on collagen, possibly through intramolecular hydrogen
bonds.

Collagen’s well-packed, rigid, triple helical structure is

responsible for its characteristic tensile strength. This suits
collagen to its role as the major stress bearing component of
connective tissues.
 Collagen’s insolubility in solvents that disrupt hydrogen bonding
and ionic interactions is explained by its intramolecular and
intermolecular covalent cross-linking derived from Lys and His
side chains.

 This is because collagen is almost devoid of Cys residues. The

importance of cross-linking to the normal functioning of collagen
is demonstrated by the disease lathyrism. The symptoms of this
condition are serious abnormalities of the bones, joints, and
large blood vessels, which are caused by an increased fragility of
the collagen fibers which results from markedly reduced cross
linking in the collagen of lathrytic animals.
 ELASTIN
Elastin is a key extracellular matrix protein that is critical to
the elasticity and resilience of many vertebrate tissues
including large arteries, lung, ligament, tendon, skin, and
elastic cartilage.

The extracellular matrix imparts structural integrity on the

tissues and organs of the body. It also acts as a dynamic
modulator of a variety of biological processes. An important
component of the extracellular matrix is the elastic fiber.

Elastic fibers confer the properties of elastic recoil and

resilience on all vertebrate elastic tissues, Such properties
are critical to the long-term function of these tissues.
Elastic fibers are found within arteries, lung, skin, vertebral
ligamenta flava, vocal chords, and elastic cartilage. They are
composed of two morphologically and chemically distinct
components–elastin and microfibrils. Elastin comprises
approximately 90% of the elastic fiber and forms the internal
core.

The structure of elastic matrices differs among tissues. Their

function is a consequence of their composition and organization
or architecture. In lung, elastic fibers form a delicate latticework
throughout the organ, concentrating in areas of stress such as the
opening of the alveoli and alveolar junctions(Fig. below). They
provide the architectural foundation, as well as the stretch and
recoil required for normal function
 Fig. 1. The arrangement of elastin in (A) aorta, (B) lung, and (C) ear cartilage.
Reprinted with permission from (A) Biodidac, (B) Dr. Alan Entwistle, Ludwig
Institute for Cancer Research, and (C) Dr. Gwen Childs.
Elastin is an extremely durable, and does not turn over appreciably in
healthy tissue. It is estimated to have a half-life of about 70 years.
Elastin is formed through the lysine-mediated crosslinking of its
soluble precursor tropoelastin.

It is the physical properties of elastin that are considered principally

responsible
for the function of elastic tissues. Elastin constitutes 30–57% of the