Adipose tissue is a metabolically active endocrine organ having a distribution in a variety of locations in whole body; therefore, it is crucial to understand the adipocyte metabolism in health and disease. Spectroscopic techniques such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Raman, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are widely used to characterize biological systems by monitoring cellular molecules such as lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins. Obesity or insulin resistance-induced molecular alterations in adipose tissue can be detected using these techniques. Spectral imaging of adipose tissue provides high-quality information involving molecular compositional, structural, and functional alterations for characterization and differentiation of adipocytes (brown, white) in different adipose tissue regions (visceral, subcutaneous, etc.). In this chapter, applications of spectroscopic and spectral imaging techniques for characterization and differentiation of various adipose tissues will be discussed, which will shed light to better understand adipose tissue metabolism and provide new insight into diagnosis and treatment of some metabolic diseases such as obesity.
Part of the book: Adipose Tissue