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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2013 Sep 23;1302(1):35–41. doi: 10.1111/nyas.12277

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Systemic integration of brown adipogenic signals. Energy homeostasis is rigorously controlled by integration of central and peripheral mechanisms. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) plays a key role in relaying brown adipogenic cues from constitutive BAT (cBAT) to white adipose tissue (WAT) to determine systemic capacity for thermogenesis and energy expenditure. For example, in situations where cBAT activity is reduced, for instance, due to ablation of bone morphogenetic protein receptor 1A (BMPR1A) or surgical denervation, this system is able to induce a compensatory recruitment of the beige/brite adipocytes within WAT to sustain normal body temperature and energy balance.3,4 Additionally, the recent identification of secreted factors that may affect browning of WAT and thermogenic activity of brown adipocytes adds an attractive communication mechanism as a target for therapeutic interventions.