Abstract

Abstract: Obesity is one of the most invaliding and preventable diseases in the United States. Growing evidence suggests that there are sex differences in obesity in human and experimental animals. However, the specific mechanisms of this disease are unknown. Consequently, there is any particular treatment according to the sex/gender at this time. During the last decade, we observe a rise in the study of adipocyte and the possible mechanisms involved in the different roles of the fat. Furthermore, the effect of sex steroids on the adipocyte is one of the fields that need elucidation. Adipose tissue is accepted as a dynamic organ with a critical role in the physiology and pathophysiology of different diseases. In the past years, we observe an increased interest in the study of the adipose tissue and sex or gender related to the cardiometabolic disease. In this sense, studies in human and animals show that there is a sex difference in the susceptibility to develop obesity. The WAT is characterized by a spherical shape that represents the mature adipocytes with a diameter size from 10 to 120 um.
They also present a significant droplet or inclusion of lipid into the cytoplasm who displaces the nucleus and organelles to the periphery. Thus, the organelles and the flattened nucleus remain speared in a small space of the cytosol compressed between the lipid droplet and the basal membrane given the appearance of a signet ring. Numerous filaments of mitochondria are distributed in the perinuclear region. Another type of fat is the brown adipose tissue (BAT), which have structural and functioning differences with WAT. Its size is approximately among 15 to 50 um, and its form is ovoid. The primary function of BAT is thermoregulatory. However, BAT can play autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine roles. Within of its autocrine role, BAT can secrete basement membrane protein such as collagen VI and fibronectin.