The Physiology of Human Brown Adipose Tissue

"The fat biopsy is performed during a scheduled procedure at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Routine preoperative procedures will be followed, including local anesthesia (numbing a particular region of the body) or general anesthesia (being put to sleep).~Adipose tissue will be sampled from different depots depending on the procedure. For example, the surgeon will collect adipose tissue from the neck and supraclavicular depots from cervical spine, thyroid, and parathyroid procedures; perinephric fat from adrenalectomies, omental fat from abdominal procedures, and paraspinal fat from lumbar spine procedures. Up to 5 pieces of fat tissue weighing about three to six grams will be removed. All other aspects of the surgical procedure will proceed as planned. Samples will be prepared for subsequent laboratory analysis."

A blood sample will be collected in the fasting state either during preoperative testing or in the preoperative area on the day of planned procedure for measurement of adipose functional markers (leptin, adiponectin) and insulin resistance (insulin, C-peptide), and measures of glycemia (glucose, hemoglobin A1c).

Targeted resequencing of DNA to identify variants associated with adipose phenotypes will be performed.