White adipose tissue  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump
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adiposus albus Code TH H2. Distribution of white adipose tissue
in the human body.  White adipose tissue (WAT) or white fat is
one of the two types of adipose tissue found in mammals. The
other kind of adipose tissue is brown adipose tissue.  In
healthy, non-overweight humans, white adipose tissue composes as
much as 20% of the body weight in men and 25% of the body weight
in women. Its cells contain a single large fat droplet, which
forces the nucleus to be squeezed into a thin rim at the
periphery. They have receptors for insulin, growth hormones,
norepinephrine and glucocorticoids.  White adipose tissue is
used as a store of energy. Upon release of insulin from the
pancreas, white adipose cells' insulin receptors cause a
dephosphorylation cascade that lead to the inactivation of
hormone-sensitive lipase. It was previously thought that upon
release of glucagon from the pancreas, glucagon