Metabolism of adipose tissue

Adipocytes have a crucial role in energy homeostasis and metabolism due to their role as most important energy storage in mammals. While white adipocytes store excess energy as fat, so called brown adipocytes are specialized to consume energy and produce heat in a process termed non-shivering thermogenesis, which is essential to keep newborn mammals warm. Importantly, recent findings not only showed that also human adults possess metabolically active brown fat, but that its abundance and activity is positively correlated with cardiovascular health.

In the picture above one sees brown adipose tissue after twelve weeks of high fat diet (HE stain).

Here are some of our latest publications on this issue:

Adenosine/A2B Receptor Signaling Ameliorates the Effects of Aging and Counteracts Obesity

Gnad T, Navarro G, Lahesmaa M, Reverte-Salisa L, Copperi F, Cordomi A, Naumann J, Hochhäuser A, Haufs-Brusberg S, Wenzel D, Suhr F, Jespersen NZ, Scheele C, Tsvilovskyy V, Brinkmann C, Rittweger J, Dani C, Kranz M, Deuther-Conrad W, Eltzschig HK, Niemi T, Taittonen M, Brust P, Nuutila P, Pardo L, Fleischmann BK, Blüher M, Franco R, Bloch W, Virtanen KA, Pfeifer A.

Cell Metab. 2020 Jul 7;32(1):56-70.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2020.06.006. Epub 2020 Jun 25.

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Adenosine activates brown adipose tissue and recruits beige adipocytes via A2A receptors

Gnad T, Scheibler S, von Kügelgen I, Scheele C, Kilić A, Glöde A, Hoffmann LS, Reverte-Salisa L, Horn P, Mutlu S, El-Tayeb A, Kranz M, Deuther-Conrad W, Brust P, Lidell ME, Betz MJ, Enerbäck S, Schrader J, Yegutkin GG, Müller CE, Pfeifer A.

Nature. 2014 Dec 18;516(7531):395-9. doi: 10.1038/nature13816. Epub 2014 Oct 15

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A VASP-Rac-soluble guanylyl cyclase pathway controls cGMP production in adipocytes

Jennissen K, Siegel F, Liebig-Gonglach M, Hermann MR, Kipschull S, van Dooren S, Kunz WS, Fässler R, Pfeifer A.

Sci Signal. 2012 Aug 28;5(239):ra62. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.2002867.

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