Adipose Tissue Pathology: Collagen Stiffness and Architecture Regulate Fibrotic Gene Expression in Engineered Adipose Tissue (Adv. Biosys. 6/2020)

Abstract

In article number 1900286, Evangelia Bellas and Nikolas Di Caprio show that adipocytes are mechanically sensitive to microenvironment changes. When exposed to increased mechanical cues via enhanced crosslinking, adipocytes initiate a biochemical cascade through actin contractility, leading to dysfunctional pro-fibrotic outcomes. The results indicate the microenvironment plays an essential role in adipocyte dysfunction during the progression of obesity and adipose tissue fibrosis.