ERRγ Preserves Brown Fat Innate Thermogenic Activity

Thermogenic mechanisms in brown fat.

Shades of Brown: A Model for Thermogenic Fat

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is specialized to burn fuels to perform thermogenesis in defense of body temperature against cold. Recent discovery of metabolically active and relevant amounts of BAT in adult humans have made it a potentially attractive target for development of anti-obesity therapeutics. There are two types of brown adipocytes: classical brown adipocytes and brown adipocyte-like ce...

Brown and Beige Fat: Molecular Parts of a Thermogenic Machine

The epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes has increased interest in pathways that affect energy balance in mammalian systems. Brown fat, in all of its dimensions, can increase energy expenditure through the dissipation of chemical energy in the form of heat, using mitochondrial uncoupling and perhaps other pathways. We discuss here some of the thermodynamic and cellular aspects of recent prog...

Brown and beige fat in humans: thermogenic adipocytes that control energy and glucose homeostasis.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT), a specialized fat that dissipates energy to produce heat, plays an important role in the regulation of energy balance. Two types of thermogenic adipocytes with distinct developmental and anatomical features exist in rodents and humans: classical brown adipocytes and beige (also referred to as brite) adipocytes. While classical brown adipocytes are located mainly in d...

Maternal high-fat diet during lactation impairs thermogenic function of brown adipose tissue in offspring mice

Maternal obesity and high-fat diet (HFD) predisposes offspring to obesity and metabolic diseases. Due to uncoupling, brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy via heat generation, mitigating obesity and diabetes. The lactation stage is a manageable period for improving the health of offspring of obese mothers, but the impact of maternal HFD during lactation on offspring BAT function is unkno...