Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a highly vascularized organ with abundant mitochondria that produce heat through uncoupled respiration. Obesity is associated with a reduction of BAT function; however, it is unknown how obesity promotes dysfunctional BAT. Here, using a murine model of diet-induced obesity, we determined that obesity causes capillary rarefaction and functional hypoxia in BAT, leading to a BAT “whitening” phenotype that is characterized by mitochondrial dysfunction, lipid droplet accumulation, and decreased expression of
Ippei Shimizu, Tamar Aprahamian, Ryosuke Kikuchi, Ayako Shimizu, Kyriakos N. Papanicolaou, Susan MacLauchlan, Sonomi Maruyama, Kenneth Walsh
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