Table 1.

Characteristics and differences among white (WAT), brown (TAB) and beige (BeAT) adipose tissues.

	WAT	BAT	BeAT	Authors
Anatomical location	Subcutaneous and visceral	Adrenal, interscapular, and neck area in human infants	WAT deposits and supraclavicular region	[4,8]
Morphology	Large adipocytes	Small adipocytes	Small adipocytes	[9,10]
Lipid droplets	Large	Multiple and small	Multiple and small	[8,9,10]
Origin/development	Progenitor Pdgfr-α	Progenitor Myf5+	Progenitor Pdgfr-α+	[4,8]
Primary function	Energy storing	Heat production	Heat production	[11]
Endocrine signals/adopokines	Adiponectin, Adipsin, Omentin, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, Leptine, Resistin, Visfatin, Chemerin, TNF-α, MCP-1	FGF-21, NRG-4, Myostatin, IGF-1, CXCL-14, BMP-8b, VEGF-A, T3, IL-6, GDF-15, Adiponectin, S100b, NGF and EPDR1	IGFBP-2, METRNL, IL-6, GDF-15 and SLIT2-C	[9,12]
Mitochondrial UCP1	Low/high upon stimulation	Low/high upon stimulation	Low/high upon stimulation	[13]
Expressed genes	Asc1, Fabp4, Fbxo31, Leptin, Lpl, Mpzl2, Nr1H3, Nrip1, Rb1, Rbl1, Resis-tin, Serpina3K, Tcf21 and Wdnm1	Bmp7, Efb2, Ednrb, Eva1, Mir133B, Mir206, Myf5, Pdk4, Prex1 and Zic1	Aqp7, Asc1, Car4, Cd137, Cd40, Cited1, Ear2, Shox2, Slc27A1, Sp100, Tbx1 and Tmem26	[4]
Mitochondrial biogenesis	Low	High	Medium	[14]
Activated hyperplasia or hypertrophy	In prolonged positive energy balance conditions, adipocytes expand cell size (hypertrophy) and number (hyperplasia).	An increase in thermogenic activity derived from physical activity has been reported; however, it has not been related to tissue expansion.	Not reported	[15,16,17]
Insulin resistance	Led by sustained low-grade inflammatory process.	Negative	Negative	[14,15,17]