ADIPOSE TISSUE

Adipose tissue is a specialized form of connective tissue consisting of fat storing cells called
Adipocytes which are associated with a rich blood supply.
Individual or groups of adipocytes are found throughout the loose connective tissue. When the
adipocytes ate the primary cell type in the tissue, we designate it as adipose tissue.
The adipocytes store as fat the nutritional calories in excess of what is utilized. The fat is an
efficient form of calorie storage because it has the twice calorie density of carbohydrate and
proteins. The metabolism of fat can be essential source of water for the body in extreme
conditions.
There are two type of adipose tissue:
1. White tissue tissue is predominant type in adult human.
2. Brown tissue tissue is present in humean during fetal life but diminishes during the first
decade after birth.
(The type are named because of their color)
White Adipose Tissue
White adipocytes form a layer called panniculus adipus in the connective tissue under the skin.
This subcutaneous layer is also referred to as hypodermis.
Concentration of adipose tissue found in connective tissue under the skin of the abdomen,
buttocks, axilla and thigh. The thickness of fatty layer in the skin differs between sexes. Only the
breast area is preferential site for the accumulation of adipose tissue. (There is no need to mention
that the female breast is composed of primarily of this tissue, nonlactating part this is way is fun
to play with).
The white adipose tissue plays several roles in the human body:
1. Insulation Play a major role in insulating function in the
skin.
2. Storage as mention early the fat stored in the tissue as a calorie condensation twice the
carbohydrates and proteins
3. Cushioning vital organs internally adipose tissue is preferentially located in the omentum,
mesentery and retroperitoneal space and usually abundant around the kidneys. It is also found in
bone marrow and between other tissues, where it fills spaces. In the plams of the hand, sole of the
feet, beneath the visceral pericardium, in the orbits of eye balls, the adipose serves as a cushion. It
retains it structural function even during reduced caloric intake, when the adipocytes become
depleted of lipid.
The life cycle of white adipose tissue:
1. White adipose tissue begins to develop in miduterine life
a. The lipoblasts that developed along the small blood vessels in the fetus are free of
fat. These cells will become fat cell in the early stage and are called primitive fat
organs. The primitive fat organ is characterized by the presence of proliferating
lipoblasts and proliferating capillaries.
2. Early lipoblast look like fibroblasts with small lipid inclusion and thin basal lamina they
are indistinguishable form each other.
a. As the lipoblasts differentiation begins smooth-surface vesicles increase in
number with a decrease in rER.
b. Small lipid inclusions start to appear at one pole of the cytoplasm.
c. Pinocytotic vesicles and basal lamina also stat to appear.
This cells are called early lipoblasts or preadipocytes.
3. Midstage lipoblast become ovoid as lipid accumulation change the cell dimension
a. The most characteristic feature in this stage is the extensive concentration of smooth
vesicles and small lipid droplets around the nucleus toward both poles of the cell.
b. Glycogen part appear at the periphery,
c. Pinocytotic vesicle and basal lamina become more apparent.
d. Collagen fibrils are in contact with the cells.
These cells are called Midstage lipoblasts.

4. The mature adipocyte is characterized by

single large lipid inclusion surrounded
by thin rim of cytoplasm
a. In this late stage the cell increase
in size become more spherical
b. Large lipid vacuoles are formed
by coalescence of smaller
droplets and occupy the central
portion of the cytoplasm.
c. Smooth vesicles of varting size
are abundant, rER is less
prominent
This cell are called late lipoblasts
5. The lipid mass compresses the nucleus to
eccentric position, producing a signet
ring appearance. These cell are called
adipocytes or mature lipocytes
The current consensus is that adipocytes are
specific cell type and that most of them derive
from undifferentiated mesenchymal cells that are
associated with the adventitia of small venules.
This is the same stem cell population from which fibroblasts and myofibroblasts in healing wound
originates. It is still nearly impossible to distinguish the lipoblast or a preadipocyte from
fibroblast.
The structure of adipocytes and adipose tissue
1. Adipocytes are spherical when isolated, but they are polyhedral or oval when crowded
together as adipose tissue.
2. The large size is because of the fat accumulation.
3. The nucleus is flattened and displaced on one side of the cell.
4. The cytoplasm forms a thin rim around the lipid.
In routine histologic section the lipid is lost using xylene there for the adipose tissue has the
appearance of delicate meshwork of irregular polygonal profiles,. The thin strand of the
meshwork separating adjacent adipocytes is the cytoplasm of both cells and the componets of the
ECM. The strand is usually thin, it is not possible to resolve is component in LM. The adipose
tisee is richly supplied with blood capillaries. Sliver stain show that adipose are surrounded by
reticular fibers a product of the adipocytes. Special stains also show that there are unmyelinated
nerve fibers and numerous mast cells in the adipose tissue.
The interface between the contained lipid and the surrounding cytoplasm have two distict
components: a 5 nm thick condensed layer of the lipid reinforced by parallel microfilaments.
This layer separate the hydrophobic contents of the lipid and the hydrophilic cytoplasm matrix.
The perinuclear cytoplasm contains a very small golgi, free ribosome and short profiles of rER,
microfilaments and intermediate filaments and mitochondria.
Regulation of adipose tissue
The amount of adipose tissue in individual its determined by heredity and caloric intake. The
patterns of distribution of fat is always determined by heredity, but the amounts can be differ even
at identical twins.
Mobilization and deposition of lipid are influenced by neural and hormonal factors.
The adipose cell are contralateral fat mobilize cell, mean they accumulate lipid when there is
positive calorie intake and deposit fat when there is negative calorie intake.
Norepinephrine is responsible for series of metabolic steps that lead to the activation of lipase.
This enzyme splits triglyceride, which constitute over 90% of the lipid. The enzymatic activity is
an early step in mobilization of the lipid. The neural mobilization of lipid is particularly important
during periods of fasting and exposure to sever cold.

The insulin enhances the conversion of glucose into triglyceride of the lipid. Other hormones also
modify various steps in the metabolism of adipose tissue, like thyroid hormones, glucocorticoids
and hormones from the pituitary gland.
Brown adipose tissue
Adipocytes of brown, multiocular adipose tissue contain numerous fat droplets. These cells are
smaller then white adipose. The nucleus of mature brown adipose is typically in an eccentric
position within the cell but not flattened.
The H&E stain section, the cytoplasm of
brown adipose consists largely of empty
vacuoles because the lipid that ordinarily
occupies is lost during preparation. The
brown adipose contains numerous
mitochondria small Golgi and small
amount of rER, and sER. The
mitochondria are unique in that they do
not contain elementary particles, the
energy produced by mitochondria is
dissipated or used as heat rather then
stored as ATP. They contain large amount of cytochorme oxidase, which impart the brown color to
the cell.
The brown adipose tissue is subdivided into lobules by partitions of connective tissue, but the
stroma between individual cells with in the lobules is sparse. The tissue has rich supply of
bloodcapillaries that enhance its color. There are some unmyelinated nerve fibers.
The brown adipose depleted of their lipid more resemblance epithelial cells then to connective
tissue.
Function:
1. Source of heat - serve as ready source of lipid, the oxidation of which produces heat that
used by the animal to warm the blood flowing through the brown fat on arousal from
hibernation. Also present in nonhibernating animals serving as a source of heat.
2. . In human it present in large amount in newborns. Related to high surface to mass ratio
that cause the newborn to lose heat. The amount usually decrease as the body grows, but
remains widely distributed through the first decade of life. It disappears except form region
around the kidney and aorta and region in the neck and mediastinum.
Like in white adipose tissue, the mobilization of lipid and heat generated by brown adipose tissue
are stimulated by sympathetic nervous system.