Since the rediscovery of active brown and beige adipose tissues in humans a decade ago, great efforts have been made to identify the mechanisms underlying the activation and inactivation of these tissues, with the hope of designing potential strategies to fight against obesity and associated metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes. Active brown/beige fat increases the energy expenditure and is associated with reduced hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia, whereas its atrophy and inactivation have been associated with obesity and aging. Autophagy, which is the process by which intracellular components are degraded within the lysosomes, has recently emerged as an important regulatory mechanism of brown/beige fat plasticity. Studies have shown that autophagy participates in the intracellular remodeling events that occur during brown/beige adipogenesis, thermogenic activation, and inactivation. The autophagic degradation of mitochondria appears to be important for the inactivation of brown fat and the transition from beige-to-white adipose tissue. Moreover, autophagic dysregulation in adipose tissues has been associated with obesity. Thus, understanding the regulatory mechanisms that control autophagy in the physiology and pathophysiology of adipose tissues might suggest novel treatments against obesity and its associated metabolic diseases.

中文翻译：

---

自噬在棕色和米色脂肪组织可塑性中的作用。

自从十年前人类重新发现活跃的棕色和米色脂肪组织以来，人们已经做出了巨大的努力来确定这些组织的激活和失活的潜在机制，以期设计出可能的策略来对抗肥胖症和相关的代谢性疾病，例如作为2型糖尿病。活性棕/米色脂肪会增加能量消耗，并与降低高血糖症和高脂血症有关，而其萎缩和失活则与肥胖和衰老有关。自噬是溶酶体中细胞内组分降解的过程，最近已成为棕色/米色脂肪可塑性的重要调节机制。研究表明自噬参与了棕色/米色脂肪形成过程中发生的细胞内重塑事件，生热激活和灭活。线粒体的自噬降解对于棕色脂肪的失活以及从米色到白色脂肪组织的转变似乎很重要。而且，脂肪组织中的自噬失调与肥胖有关。因此，了解控制脂肪组织的生理学和病理生理学中自噬的调节机制可能会建议针对肥胖症及其相关代谢疾病的新疗法。