Brown fat and skeletal muscle: unlikely cousins?
Although the functions of white fat and brown fat are increasingly well understood, their developmental origins remain unclear. A recent study published in Nature (Seale et al., 2008) identifies a population of progenitor cells that gives rise to brown fat and skeletal muscle but not white fat.
Farmer
Stephen R
SR
Department of Biochemistry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D052436:Adipose Tissue, White / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D022722:Thermogenesis