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What’s New in Obesity: Current Understanding of Adipose Tissue Morphology

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Contemporary Metabolism

Abstract

Obesity is, by definition, an increase in the amount of adipose tissue. Clearly, the additional mass of fat in obesity must be stored in adipose tissue consisting of either large adipocytes or more adipocytes, or in tissue with some mixture of cellular hyperplasia and hypertrophy. This obvious fact was brought to the attention of clinicians and investigators over two decades ago by the work of Reh (1953) and Bjmulf (1959). Yet, the meaningfulness of the cellular morphology of adipose tissue in either the pathogenesis or perpetuation of obesity remains uncertain. On the one hand, the cellular disposition of triglyceride in the unilocular adipocyte of white adipose tissue may be a totally passive event with no consequences for metabolism or energy regulation. At the other extreme, it could be that adipocyte size and number are controlling elements in a caloric- intake-storage-energy-output system and thus are of central concern to our understanding of obesity. The latter possibility, which might be called the “adipocyte theory of obesity,” deserves thorough investigation, since there has been amassed a wealth of data to suggest that the adipocyte is metabolically highly active and very sensitive to hormones. It is the purpose of this review to consider recent findings on adipose cellularity, chiefly from work with animals, but also with human subjects, in order to evaluate the “adipocyte theory of obesity.”

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Behavior and Metabolism, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, 10021, USA

    Jules Hirsch, Irving M. Faust & Patricia R. Johnson

  2. Department of Biology, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, 12601, USA

    Patricia R. Johnson

Authors
  1. Jules Hirsch
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  2. Irving M. Faust
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  3. Patricia R. Johnson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Nutrition, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Norbert Freinkel M.D. (Kettering Professor of Medicine Professor of Biochemistry Director) (Kettering Professor of Medicine Professor of Biochemistry Director)

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© 1979 Plenum Publishing Corporation

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Hirsch, J., Faust, I.M., Johnson, P.R. (1979). What’s New in Obesity: Current Understanding of Adipose Tissue Morphology. In: Freinkel, N. (eds) Contemporary Metabolism. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3447-7_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3447-7_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-3449-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-3447-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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