Endocrine Abstracts

Brown adipose tissue was classically a tissue with scientifically interesting bioenergetic features, manifest by the unique presence of uncoupling protein-1 in only this tissue – but it was considered to have no metabolic significance for adult humans. The acceptance within the last years of its presence in adult humans has intensified interest in its potential ability not only to keep us warm but particularly to burn excess energy, i.e. to keep us slim, and – through its utilization of lipids and glucose – to counteract the metabolic syndrome. The analysis of its function and significance in experimental animals can now likely be extrapolated to humans. The principal conclusion is that brown adipose tissue is the sole organ responsible for classical nonshivering thermogenesis as well as for diet-induced thermogenesis, and that no other mechanisms for adaptive thermogenesis exists. The extrapolation is evidently that its activity potentially could be exploited to promote human health.