The collection of investigations indicating the importance of adipose tissue architecture to vasculogenesis and angiogenesis during adipogenesis is reviewed. Early in development of the architecture vascular structure develops before overt adipocyte differentiation. Adipocyte development and the expanding and elaborating vascularity are closely linked during adipocyte cluster growth. Furthermore, fetal adipose tissue studies show that location-dependent angiogenic potential ranges from more to less in regards to the extent of endothelial cells and developing arterioles present before overt adipogenesis. Fetal adipose tissue cells express and secrete numerous factors that may initiate the development of adipose tissue architecture and associated developmental gradients. Possibly, the neural connection between hypothalamic neurons and adipose tissue represents part of a regulatory pathway between the hypothalamus and adipose tissue development via neural driven patterns of blood vessel development. Finally, small blood vessels in fetal adipose tissue may phagocytose and metabolize circulating lipids in the absence of differentiated adipocytes. Therefore, several aspects of the stromal and vascular components of adipose tissue may play critical roles in the timing and distribution of developing adipose tissue.
Adipobiology 2012; 4: 23-32.
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