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Allometry of the cellular structure of intra‐orbital adipose tissue in eutherian mammals
Author(s) -
Pond Caroline M.,
Mattacks Christine A.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0952-8369
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1986.tb03564.x
Subject(s) - adipose tissue , adipocyte , biology , allometry , medicine , endocrinology , anatomy , ecology
1. The mean volumes of structural adipocytes in two intra‐orbital adipose depots, the total fatness and the average volume of adipocytes in the superficial, intermuscular and intraabdominal sites were measured from 60 randomly‐obtained wild, captive and laboratory mammals ranging in body mass from 0.01–650 kg. 2. In all 30 species studied, the adipocytes immediately behind the eyeball (the ‘orbital’ depot) are smaller than those in the periphery of the eyesocket (‘peripheral’ depot) of the same specimen. The mean volumes of adipocytes in both intra‐orbital depots are approximately proportional to (Body Mass) 0.31 . 3. Disregarding the effects of interspecific differences in the shape of the eyeball and orbit, the number of intra‐orbital adipocytes is calculated to be proportional to (Body Mass) 0.69 . 4. The scaling of adipocyte volume and adipose tissue cellularity to body mass cannot be attributed directly to adipose tissue metabolism, because structural, metabolically‐inert adipocytes are similarly affected. The scaling of adipocyte volume to body mass may represent some more fundamental relationship between cell size and organism size.