The brain and brown fat

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a specialized organ responsible for thermogenesis, a process required for maintaining body temperature. BAT is regulated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which activates lipolysis and mitochondrial uncoupling in brown adipocytes. For many years, BAT was consider...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: CONTRERAS JIMENEZ, CRISTINA, González García, Francisco, Ferno, J., Diéguez González, Carlos, Rahmouni, K., Nogueiras, R., López Pérez, Miguel A.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Institución:Servizo Galego de Saúde (SERGAS)
Repositorio:RUNA. Repositorio da Consellería de Sanidade e Sergas
OAI Identifier:oai:runa.sergas.gal:20.500.11940/4268
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11940/4268
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Adipocytes, Brown/metabolism
Adipose Tissue, Brown
Animals
Brain
Energy Metabolism
Humans
Thermogenesis
Ampk
Descripción
Sumario:Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a specialized organ responsible for thermogenesis, a process required for maintaining body temperature. BAT is regulated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which activates lipolysis and mitochondrial uncoupling in brown adipocytes. For many years, BAT was considered to be important only in small mammals and newborn humans, but recent data have shown that BAT is also functional in adult humans. On the basis of this evidence, extensive research has been focused on BAT function, where new molecules, such as irisin and bone morphogenetic proteins, particularly BMP7 and BMP8B, as well as novel central factors and new regulatory mechanisms, such as orexins and the canonical ventomedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH) AMP- activated protein kinase (AMPK)-SNS-BAT axis, have been discovered and emerged as potential drug targets to combat obesity. In this review we provide an overview of the complex central regulation of BAT and how different neuronal cell populations co-ordinately work to maintain energy homeostasis.