White adipose tissue (WAT) is a cellularly heterogeneous endocrine organ that not only serves as an energy reservoir, but also actively participates in metabolic homeostasis. Among the main constituents of adipose tissue are adipocytes, which arise from adipose stem and progenitor cells (ASPCs). While it is well known that these ASPCs reside in the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) of adipose tissue, their molecular heterogeneity and functional diversity is still poorly understood. Driven by the resolving power of single-cell transcriptomics, several recent studies provided new insights into the cellular complexity of ASPCs among different mammalian fat depots. In this review, we present current knowledge on ASPCs, their population structure, hierarchy, fat depot-specific nature, function, and regulatory mechanisms, and discuss not only the similarities, but also the differences between mouse and human ASPC biology.

白色脂肪组织 (WAT) 是一种细胞异质的内分泌器官，不仅作为能量储存器，而且还积极参与代谢稳态。脂肪组织的主要成分是脂肪细胞，它们来自脂肪干细胞和祖细胞 (ASPC)。虽然众所周知这些 ASPC 存在于脂肪组织的基质血管部分 (SVF) 中，但它们的分子异质性和功能多样性仍然知之甚少。在单细胞转录组学解析能力的推动下，最近的几项研究为不同哺乳动物脂肪库中 ASPC 的细胞复杂性提供了新的见解。在这篇综述中，我们介绍了目前关于 ASPC、它们的种群结构、层次结构、脂肪库特定性质、功能和调节机制的知识，