Endocrine Abstracts

Adipocyte is a parenchymal lipid-rich cell contained into a multi-depot organ. White adipocytes store energy, brown adipocytes burns energy for thermogenesis. A third type of adipocyte appear in the adipose organ of females during pregnancy and lactation: pink adipocyte. Pink adipocytes produce and secrete milk.The adipose organ is provided with an extraordinary plasticity because during cold exposure increase the brown component to satisfy the thermogen...

WAT and BAT are two different tissues devoted to store energy in the form of triglycerides. WAT provides the organism with fuel during intervals between meals. BAT oxidizes fatty acids to produce heat. BAT is activated by cold exposure, but it is also activated by food intake suggesting its involvement in anti-obesity mechanisms. The two tissues are contained into the adipose organ. This new concept implies that, in mammals, each fat depot contains both tissues. The relative p...

Since 2003 there is a large consensus on the fact that obese adipose tissues of mice and humans are inflammed. This low-grade chronic inflammation is linked to insulin resistance inducing to type2 diabetes (T2D). In 2005 we showed that inflammation is due to death of obese adipocytes whose debris require macrophages infiltration of the tissue and consequent formation of crown like structures (CLS) as the basic histopathology aspect of inflammation. In 2008 we showed that visce...

Hyperandrogenism in women, most typically in polycystic ovary syndrome, is associated with insulin resistance and altered morphology and function of adipose tissue but little is known about the direct effects of androgen on adipose. The aims of this study were to investigate (1) distribution and relative abundance of androgen receptor (AR) in mouse adipose tissue (2) effect of temperature on AR expression in brown and white adipose depots (BAT, WAT) and (3) effects of androgen...