Figure 1.

Relative locations of the main peritoneal adipose depots, with ovary, uterine horn, and small intestine indicated as points of reference. A: Left view of the peritoneal cavity of a B6 mouse, exposed via a ventral incision. This gross anatomical dissection shows the relative location of four of the five primary sources of peritoneal fat: the omentum (OM; outlined), located above the stomach and spleen; the gonadal fat (GF), surrounding the left ovary (ov); the uterine fat (UF), attached to the left uterine horn (uh); and the mesentery (MY), attached to the small intestine (si). B: The fifth source of peritoneal adipose is the splenoportal fat, which can be exposed by lifting the spleen with forceps (SP; outlined). C: To improve visualization, the mouse omentum here is dissected free from the pancreas. Although analogous to the human omentum in composition and tissue architecture, the mouse omentum consists of a single ribbon of fat attached to the pancreas. D: The five sources of peritoneal fat are excised, to show relative size. The mesentery is shown with attached mesenteric root. The scale is marked in centimeters.