Adipose tissue as a living drug: Stromal vascular fraction and adipose tissue-derived stem cells in regenerative medicine

Table 2 Adipose tissue types and characteristics

Adipose tissue	Primary function	Morphology	Location in humans	Metabolic role	Plasticity	Regenerative potential	Prevalence in adult humans
WAT	Energy storage, endocrine regulation	Unilocular adipocytes	Subcutaneous, visceral depots	Lipid storage and mobilization (lipolysis)	High	Rich source of SVF and ASCs for clinical use	Abundant
BAT	Non-shivering thermogenesis	Multilocular adipocytes	Supraclavicular and paravertebral regions	Oxidative metabolism for heat production	Low-moderate	Endocrine activity (less used as a cell source clinically)	Limited, depot-specific
Beige adipose tissue (brite or brown-in-white)	Inducible thermogenesis	Inducible multilocular adipocytes	Scattered within WAT, mainly subcutaneous	Adaptive energy expenditure upon recruitment	Moderate	Paracrine recruitment potential	Present, recruitable

WAT: White adipose tissue; SVF: Stromal vascular fraction; ASCs: Adipose-derived stem cells; BAT: Brown adipose tissue.