High Incidence of Metabolically Active Brown Adipose Tissue in Healthy Adult Humans

By M. Saito, Y. Okamatsu‐Ogura, Mami Matsushita, Kumiko Watanabe, T. Yoneshiro, Junko Nio-Kobayashi, T. Iwanaga, M. Miyagawa, T. Kameya, K. Nakada and 2 more. Diabetes, 2009

1,399 citations recorded by the source corpus.

OBJECTIVE The significant roles of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in the regulation of energy expenditure and adiposity are established in small rodents but have been controversial in humans. The objective is to examine the prevalence of metabolically active BAT in healthy adult humans and to clarify the effects of cold exposure and adiposity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In vivo 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) uptake into adipose tissue was measured in 56 healthy volunteers (31 male and 25 female subjects) aged 23–65 years by positron emission tomography (PET) combined with X-ray computed tomography (CT). RESULTS When exposed to cold (19°C) for 2 h, 17 of 32 younger subjects (aged 23–35 years) and 2 of 24 elderly subjects (aged 38–65 years) showed a substantial FDG uptake into adipose tissue of the supraclavicular and paraspinal regions, whereas they showed no detectable uptake when kept warm (27°C). Histological examinations confirmed the presence of brown adipocytes in these regions. The cold-activated FDG uptake was increased in winter compared with summer (P < 0.001) and was inversely related to BMI (P < 0.001) and total (P < 0.01) and visceral (P < 0.001) fat areas estimated from CT image at the umbilical level. CONCLUSIONS Our findings, being against the conventional view, indicate the high incidence of metabolically active BAT in adult humans and suggest a role in the control of body temperature and adiposity.

Subfields: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine, Epidemiology, Physiology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/399a2c54e26552577125650d432ab36d8e07d37f

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

1. B. Spiegelman
2. A. Chait
3. Laura J. den Hartigh

In Epidemiology

1. B. Spiegelman
2. S. Kajimura
3. H. Ohno
4. Kosaku Shinoda
5. A. Chait
6. Laura J. den Hartigh
7. Y. Tseng
8. E. Rosen

In Physiology

1. S. Kajimura
2. B. Spiegelman
3. Y. Tseng
4. J. Heeren
5. A. Bartelt
6. H. Ohno
7. Kong Y. Chen
8. Kosaku Shinoda

Citations in the corpus

• Irisin and FGF21 are cold-induced endocrine activators of brown fat function in humans. (2014, background): “302 Cell Metabolism 19, 302–309, February 4, 2014 a2014 Elsevier In ery of cold-activated BAT suggests a possible regulatory role of BAT in NST (Cypess et al., 2009; Saito et al., 2009; van Marken Lichtenbelt et al., 2009; Virtanen et al., 2009).”
• Brown adipose tissue regulates glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity. (2013, positive): “Discussion The advances in brown adipose cell biology during the last decade have increased our understanding of the cellular origin (27–29), function (8, 13, 29), and adult human tissue distribution (2, 3, 7, 9) of BAT.”
• Cold acclimation recruits human brown fat and increases nonshivering thermogenesis. (2013, neutral): “It has also been well established that BAT activity is inversely related to BMI and body fat percentage, indicating its potential to counterbalance the current obesity pandemic (1, 4, 6).”
• Recruited brown adipose tissue as an antiobesity agent in humans. (2013, positive): “exposure at 19°C in winter as described previously (2, 6, 9, 19).”
• Brown and beige fat in humans: thermogenic adipocytes that control energy and glucose homeostasis. (2015, neutral): “In addition, the BAT mass was significantly higher in winter than in summer (19).”
• PPAR agonists induce a white-to-brown fat conversion through stabilization of PRDM16 protein (2012, positive): “The thermogenic activity of this tissue correlates inversely with overall adiposity, raising the possibility that variation in the amount or activity of BAT may contribute to the propensity for weight gain in humans (Cypess et al., 2009; Nedergaard et al., 2007; Saito et al., 2009; van Marken Lichte”
• Brown adipose tissue activity controls triglyceride clearance (2011, background): “This was of special interest to us, as it has been suggested that in humans body fat mass inversely correlates with BAT activity, as determined by positron emission tomography–computed tomography with radioactive glucose tracer”
• Adipose Tissue Distribution, Inflammation and Its Metabolic Consequences, Including Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease (2020, background): “Concurrently, individuals with detectable BAT activity display lower blood glucose, triglyceride and FFA levels, lower glycated hemoglobin (Hb1Ac) levels, and higher HDL cholesterol levels than people with no detectable BAT (348, 349).”