The capability to communicate the metabolic state of a cell to neighbouring cells and tissues is crucial for maintaining cellular and organismal energy homeostasis. Unsurprisingly, a wide variety of mechanisms exist to sense, distribute and integrate such information, often involving signals or molecules that travel between cells or to distant organs.
Today, it is known that adipose tissue is an important and dynamic endocrine organ which produces cell signaling proteins collectively referred to as adipokines. Adiponectin is one member of this family.
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