This diagram shows the cells in beige adipose tissue. It is darker colored because the fat cells in this kind of fat tissue are energy consuming and heat producing rather energy and fat storing. These thermogenic cells have many mitochondria, which give them the darker color and their name of beige adipocytes. The fat-storing type of cells are called white adipocytes, because they are composed of very large droplets of stored fats, which are mostly translucent. Macrophages that live in the fat tissue help regulate the proportion of beige and white adipocytes and thereby control whether fat tissue will be energy consuming or energy storing. Macrophages are immune cells. Thus, immune cells play a large role in weight and obesity. Not shown are the blood vessels. [Credit: Macrophage image by A. Rad, Mikael Häggström, Spacebirdy, RexxS, domdomegg (CC BY-SA 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0); compilation by Nancy R. Gough, BioSerendipity, LLC]
Read more:
N. R. Gough, Signal or Nutrient: Breast Milk Lipids in Macrophages. BioSerendipity (December 2019) https://www.bioserendipity.com/signal-or-nutrient-breast-milk-lipids-in-macrophages
N. R. Gough, Researchers Find a Special Lipid that Controls Fat Development in Babies. Medium (18 October 2019).