Histology changes in adult female grey seal blubber during adipose tissue contraction

Seals accumulate large amount of fat in the subcutaneous adipose tissue, which undergoes massive changes during their breeding season. This study aims to describe how blubber structure changes during the characteristic blubber contraction throughout depth that occur in adult female grey seal during the breeding season; As blubber pO2 is associated with fatness, it also aims to investigate if the tissue is susceptible to hypoxia based on cell size and vascularity.

The data was collected as part of the PhD project "Characterising fat tissue structure and function in response to hypoxia in grey seals, an animal model of extreme fat deposition and mobilisation, using novel in vivo and in vitro approaches".