Abstract
Adipose tissue is a central metabolic organ. Unlike other organs, adipose tissue is compartmentalized into individual depots and distributed throughout the body. These different adipose depots show major functional differences and risk associations for developing metabolic syndrome. Recent advances in lineage tracing demonstrate that individual adipose depots are composed of adipocytes that are derived from distinct precursor populations, giving rise to different populations of energy-storing white adipocytes. Moreover, distinct lineages of energy-dissipating brown and beige adipocytes exist in discrete depots or within white adipose tissue depots. In this Review, we discuss developmental and functional heterogeneity, as well as sexual dimorphism, between and within individual adipose tissue depots. We highlight current data relating to the differences between subcutaneous and visceral white adipose tissue in the development of metabolic dysfunction, with special emphasis on adipose tissue expansion and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. Moreover, we provide a detailed overview of adipose tissue development as well as the consensus and controversies relating to adult adipocyte precursor populations.
Highlights
A sedentary lifestyle paired with the continuous availability of high caloric food options has initiated a pandemic of obesity, with higher prevalence in women than in men, and its associated co-morbidities such as cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer and type 2 diabetes (GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators et al, 2017; WHO fact sheet: Obesity and overweight 2016; www.who.int/mediacentre/ factsheets/fs311/en/)
We provide an overview of the differential roles of individual adipose tissue depots in the regulation of metabolism and a detailed description of the current understanding of adipose tissue depot heterogeneity, as well as the controversies, and its implications for adipose function
Grandl and colleagues demonstrated that adipose depot-specific differences in the extracellular matrix (ECM) regulate the differentiation of adipocyte precursor populations (Grandl et al, 2016). They showed that the reduced differentiation capacity of stromal vascular cells from Visceral white adipose tissue (VAT) (Lee et al, 2013c) is primarily mediated by the composition of the ECM because de-cellularized ECM from subcutaneous preadipocytes restored the differentiation capacity of visceral preadipocytes (Grandl et al, 2016). These findings suggest that adipogenesis in vivo could be regulated by local rearrangements of the ECM that allow specific precursor populations to differentiate while inhibiting others
Summary
A sedentary lifestyle paired with the continuous availability of high caloric food options has initiated a pandemic of obesity, with higher prevalence in women than in men, and its associated co-morbidities such as cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer and type 2 diabetes (GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators et al, 2017; WHO fact sheet: Obesity and overweight 2016; www.who.int/mediacentre/ factsheets/fs311/en/). Beyond VAT and SAT – other white adipose tissue depots In addition to the major WAT depots, multiple other smaller depots exist, with distinct functions and metabolic disease association.
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