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Science 25 December 1964:
Vol. 146. no. 3652, pp. 1686 - 1689
DOI: 10.1126/science.146.3652.1686
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Articles

Thermoregulatory and Adaptive Behavior of Brown Adipose Tissue

Robert E. Smith 1

1 Department of Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles

Brown adipose tissue has been shown to be a strongly thermogenic effector organ in homeothermic animals exposed to cold and in hibernators during cold-induced arousal from deep hibernation. Because of the anatomical distribution of brown fat and the utilization of vascular countercurrent heat exchange, this cold-induced thermogenic response protects the animal by contributing heat to the vital organs of the thorax, the cervical and thoracic segments of the spinal cord, and the sympathetic chain. Evidence indicates that control of thermogenic activity of brown fat is mediated by the sympathetic nervous system.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Brown Adipose Tissue: Function and Physiological Significance.
B. CANNON and J. NEDERGAARD (2004)
Physiol Rev 84, 277-359
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Neural and hormonal control of arterial pressure during cold exposure in unanesthetized week-old rats.
M. S. Blumberg, T. G. Knoot, and R. F. Kirby (2001)
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol 281, R1514-R1521
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Further evidence that BAT thermogenesis modulates cardiac rate in infant rats.
G. Sokoloff, R. F. Kirby, and M. S. Blumberg (1998)
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol 274, R1712-R1717
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