Adipo-sites

Crucial for energy storage and hormonal regulation of many processes, fat tissue comes in two main types, fulfilling different roles, white (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT), as well as in a more mysterious form: bone marrow adipose tissue, or BMAT. These fat cells, bone marrow adipocytes (BMAds), occupy up to 70% of bone marrow volume, but are relatively poorly understood. Like WAT cells, in normal conditions, BMAds and the stromal cells from which they develop express adiponectin, a key fat cell protein; pictured is a mouse bone marrow culture, with adiponectin-expressing stromal cells in green, and lipid droplets, highlighted in pink. Yet experiments in a 'fat-free' mouse model, lacking cells expressing adiponectin, suggest that BMAds can develop through an alternative pathway when needed. Changes to BMAT occur in several health conditions, from anorexia to osteoporosis, and further research will continue to uncover its various functions.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

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• Image from work by Xiao Zhang and Hero Robles, and colleagues
• Division of Bone and Mineral Diseases, Department of Medicine, Washington University, Saint Louis, WA, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, June 2021