Adipose tissue

Adipose tissue is spread throughout the body and surrounds most organs and tissues in the pig body. In the skin, underlying adipose tissue forms the subcutis as an integral component of the skin. In the abdomen, the visceral adipose tissue is located inside the abdomen cavity, packed between the organs (liver, intestine, spleen and kidneys etc). Orbital adipose serves as an adipose cushion for the eye, though which important vessels, nerves and extraocular muscle pass.

Microscopically adipose tissue is mainly composed of ill-defined lobules of adipocytes surrounded by thin bands of collagen and small blood vessels. The cytoplasm of the adipocyte is compressed at the perimeter of the cell as it is displaced by a single lipid vacuole and only a thin rim of cell membrane is evident in the microscopic image. Adipocytes contain a small, thin and oval nucleus located peripheral to the dominating lipid vacuole, whereas nuclei of capillary endothelial cells are present at intersections between multiple adipocytes.