Chapter 11 - Methodological approaches to the study of the adipose tissues: their impact on research into the aetiology of obesity

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the methodological approaches to the study of adipose tissues that have substantial impact on the research into the etiology of obesity. It discusses three key examples to illustrate a new methodological approach to study white and brown adipose tissue. The experimental research of fat transplantation to research into the etiology of obesity has turned the spotlight away from white adipose tissue (WAT) as being the location of the primary defect in genetically obese rodents and, by implication, in man. Further, the application of the microsphere method to measuring blood flow has turned the spotlight onto brown adipose tissue (BAT) by virtue of its dominant role in non-shivering thermogenesis (NST) in small mammals. This has led very quickly to the focus on BAT as possibly being more important than WAT in the etiology of obesity. The final example proves to be vital concerning the method for distinguishing white and brown adipocytes that is based on function rather than their morphology. The recognition of the importance of the mitochondrial uncoupling protein to the function of BAT and the ability to detect this protein by a sensitive immunochemical method has made the study of certain questions experimentally accessible. It is now possible to investigate whether traditional white or storage adipose tissue can be transformed into brown or thermogenic adipose tissue by various stimuli and whether the ease of this transformation relates to a genetic predisposition to obesity.