Obesity is very costly for society and is associated with an increased risk for metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, the disease risk is determined by the adipose tissue functionality rather than the fat mass per se. Functional adipose tissue efficiently stores excess energy, removing excess bloodstream nutrients. That way other tissues are protected from the harmful effects of ectopic lipid deposition. The adipose tissue is formed by many types of cells (white and beige adipocytes, immune cells, fibroblast...) all of them are their communication is key to its proper functioning. Those cells have an endocrine function, secreting beneficial cytokines like adiponectin, or in case of excessive accumulation of fat, other substances such as pro-inflammatory cytokines. One mean to enhance the adipose tissue function and its ability to act as a “metabolic sink” (removing nutrients excess) is through factors/cytokine release, which enhances the amount of beige adipocytes and the sympathetic nervous system activation, a process commonly referred to as browning. This hormone release seems to be key to developing healthier adipose tissue expansion that is associated with improved adipose tissue function.

This collection will aim on proposing a collection of video articles that describe standardized protocols and new techniques for assessing adipose tissue function from different approaches, including the classical lipolysis/adipogenesis assay, the study of cytokines release, in vitro culture of adipocytes or/and other important cells from the adipose tissue as the immune cells, RNA scope and single-cell approaches, mitochondrial function.