Fig. 2.

White, beige and brown adipocytes are morphologically and functionally very distinct and differ with respect to their mitochondrial content. There is a gradual decrease in lipid droplet size (unilocular in the white adipocyte, increasingly multilocular in the beige and brown adipocyte). This is in line with the primary role of the white adipocyte as a storage compartment for lipids, whereas beige and brown adipocytes need extensive access to the lipid droplet surface to rapidly activate triacylglycerol and provide fuel for the much more abundant mitochondrial structures in these cells. This figure is available as part of a downloadable slideset