Emerging knowledge of beige adipocyte biology

Abstract

The prevalence of obesity has been significantly increasing worldwide. Excessive accumulation of adipose tissue has been recognized as a fundamental risk in the development of obesity and its obesity-related disorders, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and hypertension. The advancement of current technologies and knowledge reveal that human fat, both subcutaneous and visceral, contains varieties of cell heterogenicity in adipose tissues, e.g., adipose-derived stem cells (ADSC), preadipocytes, and many forms of mature adipocytes. Besides, the two well-known white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) that are functionally distinct; there is a recently discovered adipose cell called “beige adipocyte”. These brown-like adipocytes that appear in fat tissue differently in both morphological and functional aspects, apart from those of BAT and WAT. In this review, we focused to clarify the evidenced-based knowledge of beige adipocyte biology. The cellular development and differentiation, phenotypic cellular markers, structural correlation with other cells and organs, physiological control mechanisms, and other influencing factors to the beige adipocyte were summarized in this work. Additionally, we also suggest the potential implication of the beige adipocyte in clinical application.