The chemical composition of adipose tissue of man and mice.

The chemical composition of human and mouse adipose tissue taken from fat and thin individuals has been determined. The tissues were obtained from the epididymal fat pads of fat, lean and normal strains of mice and from sixty-one human subjects undergoing various abdominal operations. In both the mice and the humans, the adipose tissue from obese individuals contained slightly more fat and less protein and water than that from lean individuals. However, the differences were small and it is concluded that obese individuals contain, in their total adipose tissue, much more non-fatty cellular material than do the lean.