Abstract
Excessive fat accumulation in the body causes overweight and obesity. To date, research has confirmed that there are two types of adipose tissue with opposing functions: lipid-storing white adipose tissue (WAT) and lipid-burning brown adipose tissue (BAT). After the rediscovery of the presence of metabolically active BAT in adults, BAT has received increasing attention especially since activation of BAT is considered a promising way to combat obesity and associated comorbidities. It has become clear that energy homeostasis differs between the sexes, which has a significant impact on the development of pathological conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Sex differences in BAT activity may contribute to this and, therefore, it is important to address the underlying mechanisms that contribute to sex differences in BAT activity. In this review, we discuss the role of sex hormones in the regulation of BAT activity under physiological and some pathological conditions. Given the increasing number of studies suggesting a crosstalk between sex hormones and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in metabolism, we also discuss this crosstalk in relation to sex differences in BAT activity.
Highlights
Excessive or abnormal fat accumulation in the body causes overweight and obesity
In androgen-induced mouse models of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), we and others observed that androgen excess reduced the mRNA expression of Ucp1 and other genes involved in mitochondrial function in brown adipose tissue (BAT), likely contributing to a lower body temperature [41, 142, 143]
Further studies are needed, this study suggests that gonadal hormones have a more prominent role than sex chromosomes in the regulation of BAT activity
Summary
Excessive or abnormal fat accumulation in the body causes overweight and obesity. The recent report of the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that 39.1% of adults worldwide in 2016 were overweight and 13.2% (or over 650 million) were obese, which is approximately three times as high as in 1975 [1]. Female mice with BAT-specific ERa deficiency had lower basal and cold-induced Ucp1 expression in BAT, showed whitening of brown adipocytes, had a lower body temperature, and altered substrate metabolism in BAT during a cold challenge test compared to control mice [119].
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