The adipose organ is composed by two types of tissue: the white adipose tissue and the brown adipose tissue. Recently, it has been classified as a real endocrine organ whose dysfunction is involved in different diseases, mainly obesity and type 2 diabetes. The adipose tissues produce specific citokines named adipokines (the one from white adipose tissue) and batokines (the one from brown adipose tissue). They have opposite roles but mice and human data have demonstrated their capacity to convert to each other in response to the physio or pathophysiologic condition. This process is called transdifferentiation.
We here aim to retrace the adipose organ history from physiology to physiopathology, to provide therapeutic perspectives for the prevention and treatment of its two main related diseases: obesity and type 2 diabetes.