White adipose tissue
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White adipose tissue (WAT) or white fat is one of the two types of adipose tissue found in mammals (compare to brown adipose tissue). In humans, white adipose tissue composes as much as 20% of the body weight in men and 25% of the body weight in women. Its cells contain a single large fat droplet, which forces the nucleus to be squeezed into a thin rim at the periphery. They have receptors for: - Insulin - Growth hormones - Norepinephrine - glucocorticoids
The white adipose tissue is used as a store of energy. Upon release of insulin from the pancreas, white adipose cells' insulin receptors cause a dephosphorylation cascade that lead to the inactivation of hormone-sensitive lipase. Upon release of glucagon from the pancreas, glucagon receptors cause a phosphorylation cascade that activates hormone-sensitive lipase, causing the breakdown of the stored fat to fatty acids, which are exported into the blood and bound to albumin, and glycerol, which is exported into the blood freely. Fatty-acids are taken up by muscle and cardiac tissue as a fuel source, and glycogen is taken up by the liver for gluconeogenesis.
White adipose tissue also acts as a thermal insulator, helping to maintain body temperature.
Histology: connective tissue | |
|---|---|
| Classification | proper (loose/areolar, dense, adipose brown and white, reticular) embryonic (mucous, mesenchymal) specialized (cartilage, bone, blood) |
| Extracellular matrix | ground substance (tissue fluid) fibers (collagen, reticular fiber, elastic fibers) |
| Cells | resident (fibroblast, adipocyte, chondroblast, osteoblast), wandering cell |
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Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
