A new adipogenic cocktail that produces functional adipocytes from MSCs

A new adipogenic cocktail that produces functional adipocytes from MSCs

Adipocyte dysfunction is directly associated with pathologies characterized by metabolic disorders including obesity, diabetes mellitus type II and metabolic syndrome. Adipogenesis is a complex process that has been extensively studied in different cell models.

The main contributions in this area have been elucidating the signaling pathways that regulate adipogenic differentiation from pre-adipocytes to mature adipocytes. Cells resulting from this process are generally characterized by a spherical morphology with the presence of fat droplets in their cytoplasm. These parameters have been considered as the cellular events that determine the final stage of adipogenesis.

However functionality and maturity of the differentiated adipocytes have been sparsely explored. In this context, and considering that adipose tissue plays a central role in energy homeostasis, assessing the function of differentiated adipocytes is an important parameter to considerer in the study of the adipogenesis.

In a study reported in the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine researchers demonstrate that exposure of mesechymal stromal cells (MSCs) to a simple adipogenic stimulus consisting of dexamethasone and rosiglitazone (D&R) induces adipogenic differentiation.

They observed that a significant percentage of these cells differentiate into adipogenic lineage, characterized not only by the presence of fat droplets, but also by the loss of proliferative potential, expression of genes characteristic of a mature adipocyte, sensitivity to insulin and synthesis and secretion of adipokines.

This evidence is relevant especially considering that the standard adipogenic cocktail widely used to induce the adipogenic process in MSCs, generates non-functional immature adipocytes.

http://ebm.sagepub.com/content/240/9/1235
Edited

Rating

Unrated
Rating: