Biology · Ch 10 — Animal Tissue
Adipose Tissue
Adipose Tissue
Adipose tissue (adipo = fat) is a loose connective tissue in which large numbers of rounded to polygonal fat-storing cells, adipocytes, are packed together. Because each cell stores its fat as a large droplet, the nucleus is pushed to the periphery (an eccentric nucleus). Compared with areolar tissue, adipose tissue has relatively little matrix and comparatively few fibres and blood vessels.
Two forms of adipose tissue occur: white adipose tissue, which looks opaque because of the sheer number of adipocytes it contains and is the common form seen in adults, and brown adipose tissue, which appears reddish-brown because of the large number of blood vessels running through it. …
What this figure shows. A cluster of large, closely packed, rounded to polygonal adipose (fat) cells, most shown filled with a single large pale fat globule that pushes the cytoplasm and flattened nucleus to the cell's rim, alongside a few emptied adipose cells shown as thin-walled empty rings; fine white fibres and a small bl …