Brown fat in humans: consensus points and experimental guidelines

Aaron M Cypess; Carol R Haft; Maren R Laughlin; Houchun H Hu

doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2014.07.025

Brown fat in humans: consensus points and experimental guidelines

Cell Metab. 2014 Sep 2;20(3):408-15. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2014.07.025.

Authors

Aaron M Cypess¹, Carol R Haft², Maren R Laughlin³, Houchun H Hu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Research Division, Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
² National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Electronic address: haftc@extra.niddk.nih.gov.
³ National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Electronic address: maren.laughlin@nih.gov.
⁴ Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA.

Abstract

As part of a current worldwide effort to understand the physiology of human BAT (hBAT) and whether its thermogenic activity can be manipulated to treat obesity, the workshop "Exploring the Roles of Brown Fat in Humans" was convened at the National Institutes of Health on February 25-26, 2014. Presentations and discussion indicated that hBAT and its physiological roles are highly complex, and research is needed to understand the health impact of hBAT beyond thermogenesis and body weight regulation, and to define its interactions with core physiological processes like glucose homeostasis, cachexia, physical activity, bone structure, sleep, and circadian rhythms.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adipose Tissue, Brown / anatomy & histology*
Adipose Tissue, Brown / physiology*
Body Weight
Energy Metabolism
Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / analysis
Homeostasis
Humans
Neck / anatomy & histology
Neck / physiology
Obesity / therapy
Positron-Emission Tomography / methods
Thermogenesis

Substances

Fluorodeoxyglucose F18

Grants and funding

Z99 DK999999/Intramural NIH HHS/United States