肥胖为能量摄入与消耗失衡引起的脂肪过度堆积，是糖尿病、高血压、高血脂、脂肪肝和心血管疾病等代谢综合征的重大风险因素。脂肪作为防治肥胖与代谢性疾病的重要组织靶点，分为储存能量的白色脂肪以及产热并消耗能量的棕色和米色脂肪。研究发现，成年人体内的棕色和米色脂肪含量与机体能量代谢呈正相关，而与BMI和血糖呈负相关，提示激活人体棕色和米色脂肪产热在改善肥胖和胰岛素抵抗方面的重大潜力。文章讲述了棕色和米色脂肪细胞的发育起源、解剖学特征以及调控其发育和产热功能的各种因素。总而言之，棕色和米色脂肪作为治疗肥胖的靶标既具有巨大潜力，又面临着巨大挑战。

Obesity represents excess accumulation of fat in adipose tissues, which is the major risk factor for metabolic diseases including type II diabetes, hepatic steatosis and cardiovascular diseases. Importantly, numerous researches have shown that, in both
rodents and human, brown fat and the newly identified beige fat play vital roles in themogenesis and energy expenditure, as well as in glucose and lipid homeostasis as metabolic sinks, thus the enhancement of brown/beige fat functionality is considered as a novel therapeutic strategy against obesity and metabolic diseases. This review aims to address recent progress in the understanding of the anatomical, developmental, functional characteristics and regulatory network of brown and beige adipocytes, as well as discuss about the perspectives and emerging challenges.