摘要
除了储存能量的白色脂肪组织(White Adipose Tissue, WAT), 人类和小型哺乳动物体内也存在着消耗能量的棕色脂肪组织(Brown Adipose Tissue BAT). BAT对于小型哺乳动物和人类婴儿的体温维持具有重要作用.棕色脂肪细胞内含有很多小脂滴和丰富的血管、神经和线粒体.棕色脂肪的线粒体通过去偶联反应把ATP转化成热量.近年来的研究结果表明,增加棕色脂肪的数量或者提高棕色脂肪的活性可以抑制高脂饮食诱导的体重增加,改善胰岛素抵抗,治疗肥胖.这说明棕色脂肪很可能是防治肥胖以及相关疾病的强有力的靶器官.本文综述了近年来有关棕色脂肪在改善代谢功能、激活棕色脂肪和米色脂肪的相关因子以及其临床运用等方面的研究进展.
In addition to white adipose tissue(WAT) that stores energy, human and small mammals also have brown adipose tissue(BAT) that dissipates chemical energy for thermogenesis. BAT contains multilocular lipid droplets and much higher numbers of mitochondria than WAT. The mitochondria in BAT uncouple large amounts of fuel oxidation from ATP for heat generation. Accumulating evidences have demonstrated that increased activity and/or amount of BAT can reverse obesity and improve insulin resistance, which highlights that BAT plays an important role in energy metabolism. In this review, we summarized recent findings that shows advantageous effects of BAT activation in metabolic diseases. In addition, we presented the function and role of brown and beige fat cells and regulatory factors for them. Finally, we discussed the potential application of brown adipocytes-based therapy and pharmacological intervention to increase BAT activity for the treatment of obesity and related diseases including insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases and type 2diabetes.
