Exercise and Activation of Brown Adipose Tissue

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a key player to maintain body temperature due to its thermogenic function. BAT, previously known to exist only in mammals and the human neonate, has received great attention for the treatment of obesity and diabetes, ever since it is reported that human adults have functional BAT recently. Heat production using fatty acid and glucose in BAT is induced by uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) and the induction of UCP1 is tightly associated with the activation of β3-adrenergic receptor (β3-AR) that is also activated by exercise. Indeed, exercise is one of the most strongest stimuli for lipolysis in adipose tissue, leading to releasing fatty acid that will be taken up by BAT. However, the effect of exercise in BAT activation has been controversial depending on the adiposity, exercise modes, exercise intensities and exercise durations. In this review, therefore, the origin of brown adipose tissue and biological mechanism of BAT activation will be reviewed then previous results on BAT activation after exercise training will be discussed.