[Histonet] Glands in mouse fat

[Mary A. Ascenzi]

Sounds like brown fat, found in  mice and other small mammals and in 
hibernators.  It is sometimes mistaken for a gland. Energy stored in 
brown fat is released as heat. Here is one website, but if you google 
"brown fat mouse" you can find some photomics and more info.
www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/ pathphys/misc_topics/brownfat
Mary Ascenzi

>Hi,
>      I have a sample of adipose tissue from a mouse. The researcher
>described it as subdermal "deep fat" from the back of the mouse. The tissue
>appeared to have glands of some sort and I was having difficulty identifying
>it. The tissue is islands of glands surrounded in adipose. The 'glands' have
>a ring of cuboidal epithelium and a eosinophillic colloid of some sort
>inside.
>      My experience is almost exclusively on human tissue so I'm a bit
>stumped. Initially I thought sweat gland or apocrine as it was near the
>skin, but (...duh) no sweat glands in mice. My next thought was that it had
>to be breast tissue. The histology looks the same (cuboidal epithelium,
>colloid, adipose) but the researcher says it is from the back of the mouse
>and he thinks the mouse was male. I asked if he was sure, it must have been
>a mouse with one heck of an identity crisis!
>      So, I'll toss this into the ring. Does anyone have any ideas as to what
>this is. At this point it is really a matter of curiosity, but it is eating
>me up! I really should get an atlas of mouse anatomy & histology. Any
>suggestions?
>
>Thanks much,
>Amos Brooks
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