Editorial Volume 4, Issue 11 pp 728—729

Figure 1. Brown-to-white transitioning and loss of ucp1 expression in murine sWAT during aging. At 3 months of age, numerous brown adipocytes reside in sWAT and ucp1 expression is high. However, by 6 months of age, there are fewer brown adipocytes and expression of ucp1 is reduced nearly 40-fold. By 12 months, the depot appears uniformly white and ucp1 levels have decreased an additional ~20-fold (vs 6 mo). Expression of ucp1 then continues to fall another ~15-fold between 12 and 24 months. When 12 month old animals are treated with a β-3 adrenergic receptor (β3AR) agonist for seven days, brown adipocytes reappear and ucp1 expression is increased.