CANADIAN JOURNAL OF DIABETES CANADIAN JOURNAL OF DIABETES. 2005;29(4):420-428.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis is almost exclusive-ly under sympathetic nervous system (SNS) innervation con-trol. The release of norepinephrine from BAT SNS terminals primarily stimulates beta-3-adrenoceptors activating mito-chondrial uncoupling protein-1 responsible for increased BAT thermogenesis. BAT has sensory innervation that may function in BAT growth and thermogenic capacity. No convincing neu-roanatomical evidence exists for BAT parasympathetic innerva-tion. The central nervous system (CNS) origins of the SNS outflow to BAT have been defined using the pseudorabies virus (PRV), a viral transneuronal retrograde tract tracer, and involve sites across the neural axis. Preliminary data show that melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4-R) mRNA is highly co-localized with PRV-labelled BAT sympathetic outflow neurons, providing a neuroanatomical basis for increased BAT thermo