Adipose tissue changes in obesity

Abstract

This review gives a broad description of some of the changes in adipose tissue seen in obesity. There are multiple changes in adipose tissue in obesity: histological, neural and vascular, relating to lipid and carbo-hydrate metabolism and to adipose tissue's endocrine functions. Some may originate from a simple physical expansion of cell size and number. It is unclear which are the most important either in terms of intermediary metabolism or of contributing to the co-morbidities of obesity. Important questions for the future include the reversibility of obesity-related changes and indeed whether the changes differ between depots and species. Recent studies examining physiological regulation within adipose tissue demonstrate it to be relatively unresponsive to changes in everyday life.