We here detect dormant brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adult humans, occurring in most of the perirenal fat depot and characterized by a unilocular morphology. This phenotype was contrasted by multilocular BAT accumulating near the adrenal gland. Transcriptomic analysis revealed a gene expression profile of unilocular BAT that was approaching, yet was still distinct from, the expression profile of subcutaneous white adipose tissue (WAT). Candidate gene signatures were recapitulated in a murine model of unilocular brown fat induced by thermoneutrality and high fat diet. We identified SPARC as a candidate adipokine representing a dormant BAT state in the absence of sympathetic activation and CLSTN3 as a novel marker for multilocular BAT. Brown fat precursor cells were present in the entire perirenal fat depot, regardless of state. When differentiated in vitro, these cells responded to acute norepinephrine stimulation by increasing UCP1 gene expression and uncoupled respiration, confirming a BAT phenotype. We thus propose a mechanism for the reduction of functionally competent BAT in adult humans and we provide a solid data set for future research on factors that can reactivate dormant BAT as a potential strategy for combating obesity and metabolic disease.

Asymmetric perirenal brown adipose dormancy in adult humans is defined by local sympathetic activity