White and beige adipocytes: are they metabolically distinct?

The white adipose tissue (WAT) exhibits great plasticity and can undergo "browning" and acquire features of the brown adipose tissue (BAT), which takes place following cold exposure, chronic endurance exercise or β3-adrenergic stimulation. WAT that underwent browning is characterized by the presence of "beige" adipocytes, which are morphologically similar to brown adipocytes, express uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) and are considered thermogenically...