This book ties together the recent findings on the molecular mechanisms of adipocyte development and gene expression with the most important histological, physiological, and metabolic characteristics of the different adipose tissues. It discusses obesity as a special metabolic state.

Today we know that white and brown adipocytes share many metabolic and molecular pathways, although their physiological function, i.e., energy storage and energy dissipation, respectively, are quite opposite for WAT (white adipose tissue) and BAT (brown adipose tissue). The authors in this book provide a comprehensive volume covering the whole range of topics of adipose biology from morphology to function, development to physiological and molecular regulation and heterogeneity. Their aim is specifically to tie together most recent findings on molecular mechanisms of adipocyte development and gene expression with the most important histological, physiological, and metabolic characteristics of the different adipose tissues.