New Horizons of Adipose Tissue Disorders: From Hormonal Issues to Loose Connective Disease

Dear Colleagues,

Adipose tissue disorders, especially regarding superficial adipose tissue, are not yet considered in the same manner as diseases of other organs or tissues by the medical/scientific community. These disorders are therefore often not adequately studied by researchers and underestimated, consequentially becoming the prerogative of non-healthcare professionals who deal with aesthetic pathologies.

Nevertheless, many years have now passed since the new vision and redefinition of adipose tissue as one of the major endocrine organs and a very important connection network between other endocrine–metabolic systems and other organs and tissues of the organism, e.g., the effects of leptin on the central nervous system and the regulation of fertility.

From the data emerging from studies carried out on rare diseases of adipose tissue, lipedema and tissue alterations linked to lymphedema, it is increasingly relevant to consider these diseases as primitive, which could originate from the tissue itself and not always be linked to changes in body weight, hormones or metabolism, and as diseases that do not only involve adipocytes, but the loose connective tissue with the extracellular matrix, other non-adipocyte cells and the entire micro- and macro-vascular and lymphatic systems.

We warmly invite you and your colleagues to submit original research articles, reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and brief reports that address issues related to the future management and understanding of adipose tissue diseases, lipedema and obesity, as well as the evaluation clinical and instrumental diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, follow-up and prevention of these diseases.

Dr. Laura Patton
Dr. Guido Gabriele
Guest Editors

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• adipose tissue
• lipedema
• lymphedema
• obesity
• matrix
• vascular and lymphatic disorder
• connective tissue diseases
• dysbiosis
• inflammation
• pain