Publication of the week: Professor Paul Trayhurn and Professor Jon Arch

Trayhurn, Paul and Jonathan R.S. Arch, “New physiological aspects of brown adipose tissue”, Current Obesity Reports (2014) 3: 414–421. DOI 10.1007/s13679-014-0125-8.

Brown adipose tissue (or brown fat) is specialised for the generation of heat by non-shivering mechanisms. In rodents, the tissue plays a role in energy balance and the development of obesity, as well as in thermoregulation. Studies using fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET, which is employed in nuclear medicine to track tumours), together with the identification of uncoupling protein-1, have provided definitive evidence that brown adipose tissue is present in adult humans. Brown fat activity is stimulated by cold exposure, declines with age and is inversely proportional to BMI (body mass index – the degree of fatness). This has led to renewed interest in the tissue as a therapeutic target for the treatment of obesity. Brown adipose tissue also plays a role in glucose disposal and triglyceride clearance, implicating it in the metabolic syndrome. A potential mechanism for increasing thermogenesis is by the ‘browning’ of white adipose depots through the recruitment of the recently identified third type of adipocyte – the brite (or beige) fat cell.

Read the full article.

Current Obesity Reports is a review journal for significant recent developments in obesity and related fields and is published by Springer. Paul Trayhurn is a member of the Editorial Board.

Professor Paul Trayhurn and Professor Jon Arch are members of the Clore Laboratory within the Buckingham Institute of Translational Medicine.