Elsevier

Redox Biology

Volume 12, August 2017, Pages 806-813
Redox Biology

Review Article
Sex matters: The effects of biological sex on adipose tissue biology and energy metabolism

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2017.04.012Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Sex differences of endocrine and metabolic function in adipose tissue.

  • Sex-specific differences in regulation and deposition of fat are often overlooked.

  • Pink adipocytes trans-differentiate from white fat cells in pregnant females.

  • Gender-specific medicine: implication for therapeutic approaches in metabolic disease.

Abstract

Adipose tissue is a complex and multi-faceted organ. It responds dynamically to internal and external stimuli, depending on the developmental stage and activity of the organism. The most common functional subunits of adipose tissue, white and brown adipocytes, regulate and respond to endocrine processes, which then determine metabolic rate as well as adipose tissue functions. While the molecular aspects of white and brown adipose biology have become clearer in the recent past, much less is known about sex-specific differences in regulation and deposition of adipose tissue, and the specific role of the so-called pink adipocytes during lactation in females. This review summarises the current understanding of adipose tissue dynamics with a focus on sex-specific differences in adipose tissue energy metabolism and endocrine functions, focussing on mammalian model organisms as well as human-derived data. In females, pink adipocytes trans-differentiate during pregnancy from subcutaneous white adipocytes and are responsible for milk-secretion in mammary glands. Overlooking biological sex variation may ultimately hamper clinical treatments of many aspects of metabolic disorders.

Keywords

Body fatness
Adipose tissue
Sex-specific differences
Adipokines
Adipocytes
Obesity
Energy metabolism

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