ADIPOSE TISSUE

ADIPOSE TISSUE

Connective tissue Storage of lipid Most spacious reservoir of energy Stable supply of energy-rich fuel

ADIPOCYTES fat cells that stores lipids

Synthesize lipid Accumulate fat Responsive to hormonal and nervous stimulation

STUCTURE OF ADIPOSE TISSUE

Composed mostly of fat cells organized into lobules Lobules of fat separated and supported by loose connective tissue called septa
Septa:

carries blood vessels and nerves to adipose tissue This connective tissue within fat cells also brings cells in contact with the capillaries

FUNCTIONS

Metabolic: Energy Substrate Storage: Lipids, Vitamins Protection of vital organs Physical support and insulation Maintenance of serum lipids Generation of heat: Brown adipose tissue Source of hormones

Anatomical Distribution

Subcutaneous adipose tissue

Abdominal
Femoral

Intraabdominal adipose tissue

visceral

(mesenteric and omental)

Other depots:
Intra

and intermuscular Perivascular epicardiac

2 distinct types of Adipose Tissue

White Adipose Tissue

widespread

Brown Adipose Tissue

Less

abundant

WHITE ADIPOSE TISSUE

Also known as: Unilocular Adipose Tissue

Mature

white adipose cells single large droplet

*Multilocular- present in developing white fat cell

Predominate

fat in the body Long term energy storage Poorly developed mitochondria

Adipose Tissue

Color:
Tan
Reddish

brown

Its color is due to its:

Rich

vascularity In part, to cytochromes in its extraordinarily abundant mitochondria

WHITE Adipose Tissue: Histophysiology

1.

2.
3. 4.

5.

After feeding, fats in the diet.. Degraded in the duodenum by lipase Yield fatty acids and glycerol Recombined to form neutral fats (triglycerides) in the intestinal epithelial cells Triglycerides released at the basolateral membrane of

Distribution of of White Adipose Tissue

Unilocular fat is widely distributed in subcutaneous tissue It exhibits quantitative regional differences
Sex

and age

Infants and young children: panniculus adiposus Adults: thins out in some areas and grows thicker in some regions

Distribution of of White Adipose Tissue

Sex: Male
Principal

regions: nape of the neck, subcutaneous area over deltoid and triceps muscles, lumbosacral region, the buttocks

Female
Principal

regions: breasts, buttocks, the epitrochanteric region, anterior and lateral aspects of thigh

Distribution of of White Adipose Tissue

Extensive accumulations of fat

Omentum,

mesenteries, retroperitoneal area They easily give up lipid during fasting

Areas of Adipose tissue that do not easily give up:

Orbit,

major joints, palms and soles of the feet Diminish only after very long starvation

Histogenesis of Adipose Tissue

1800s- histologists considered AT to be merely loose connective tissue Adipocytes DO NOT become evenly distributed in obesity Rarely accumulate adipose tissue:
Eyelids,

nose, ears, scrotum, genitalia, back of the hands and feet

Histogenesis of Adipose Tissue

Adipocytes differentiate from special precursor cells of mesenchymal origin

Lipoblasts

or preadipocytes

Two processes of AT formation:

Primary

fat formation (early in the fetus) Secondary fat formation (adult human)

BROWN Adipose Tissue

Color:
Tan
Reddish

brown

Its color is due to its:

Rich

vascularity In part, to cytochromes in its extraordinarily abundant mitochondria

BROWN Adipose Tissue

Polygonal in section Cytoplasm

Abundant Contains

multiple lipid droplets of varying size

Nucleus
Slightly

eccentric in position Never displaced to the periphery

Golgi Complex juxtanuclear

BROWN Adipose Tissue

Mitochondria
very

numerous Spherical Large part of the cytoplasm Numerous cristae

Endoplasmic Reticulum
lacking Soft few profiles may be found
Rough

Ribosomes
Small

numbers of free ribosomes

BROWN Adipose Tissue

Brown Fat has a lobular organization Distribution of blood vessels within the lobules is reminiscent of that of a gland. Fasting
Brown

fat gradually loses lipid. Becoming more deeply colored. Reverting to a gland-like mass of epithelioid cells. No resemblance to cells of connective tissue. Rapid in animals exposed to a cold environment.

BROWN Adipose Tissue

Stroma is very sparse. Blood supply exceedingly rich. More intimate relation to one another than unilocular fat. Nerves
Axons

are found in close apposition to the surface of the cells.

BROWN Adipose Tissue

BROWN Adipose Tissue: Distribution

Prominent in newborn. In adults, it is most conspicuous in species that hibernate. Occurs in

2

symmetrical interscapular fat bodies

In

thin lobules between muscles around the shoulder girdle In the axillae.

Occupies the costrovertebral angles Forms slender lobules along either side of the aorta and in the hilus of the kidneys.

BROWN Adipose Tissue: Distribution

In man
Multilocular

condition of the lipid gradually diminishes by coalescence of the droplets In adults, the cells gradually come to resemble those of white adipose tissue.

Well developed in:

Neck Interscapular

region of the human fetus by 28th

week In newborn, it constitues 2-5% if the body weight.

BROWN Adipose Tissue: Distribution

In adult:
Appear

unilocular But in elderly with chronic wasting diseases and in starvation, masses of multilocular fat again become apparent in the same regions where it is found in the fetus and newborn.

2 distinct type of lipomas (tumor of fatty tissue)

One

resembling unilocular adipose tissue Other resembling brown fat

BROWN Adipose Tissue: Histophysiology

BROWN FAT is a tissue specialized for heat production RATE OF OXIDATION 20 times that of white fat. In a cold environment, brown fat cells may treble their heat production

NON SHIVERING THERMOGENESIS UNCOUPLING PROTEIN - It is in the inner membrane of mitochondria. Brown adipose tissue - abundant in species that -essential for their rapid warming during arousal from the torpid stage