A UCLA-led team of researchers has found nerve pathways that supply brown adipose tissue (BAT), a type of tissue that releases chemical energy from fat metabolism as heat--a finding that could pave the way toward using it to treat obesity and related metabolic conditions. The researchers have, for the first time, detailed this nerve supply and provided examples of how manipulating it can change BAT activity, marking a first step toward understanding how to use it therapeutically, said senior author Dr. Preethi Srikanthan, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism, and the Director of the Neural Control of Metabolism Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In humans, the largest deposits of BAT are in the neck.