The Ultrastructure of the White Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue

In order to know the ultrastructural particularities of the adipose tissues, especially when very accurate in situ location of some molecules of interest (mRNA, proteins) must be identified in their associations with specific infrastructures during adipogenesis correlated with the fat type body location, the electron microscopic investigation is the best way to get it. We analysed the subcutaneous adipose tissue at the high resolution. Maturing lipoblasts exhibited a large lipid inclusion and additional few smaller fat inclusion in way to fuse to create an huge lipid droplet pushing the nucleus and the main cytoplasmic organites (mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum etc.) to the cell periphery (signet-ring appearance) characteristic to the adipocytes. Often, blood capillaries are located in close vicinity of adipocytes. Traffiking infrastructures (coated pits, coated vesicles) and a continuous basal lamina at the periphery of adipocytes can be detected.