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Regional differences in cellular mechanisms of adipose tissue gain with overfeeding.

ABSTRACT: Body fat distribution is an important predictor of the metabolic consequences of obesity, but the cellular mechanisms regulating regional fat accumulation are unknown. We assessed the changes in adipocyte size (photomicrographs) and number in response to overfeeding in upper- and lower-body s.c. fat depots of 28 healthy, normal weight adults (15 men) age 29 ± 2 y. We analyzed how these changes relate to regional fat gain (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and computed tomography) and baseline preadipocyte proliferation, differentiation [peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-?2 (PPAR?2) and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein-? (C/EBP?) mRNA]), and apoptotic response to TNF-?. Fat mass increased by 1.9 ± 0.2 kg in the upper body and 1.6 ± 0.1 kg in the lower body. Average abdominal s.c. adipocyte size increased by 0.16 ± 0.06 ?g lipid per cell and correlated with relative upper-body fat gain (r = 0.74, P < 0.0001). However, lower-body fat responded to overfeeding by fat-cell hyperplasia, with adipocyte number increasing by 2.6 ± 0.9 × 10(9) cells (P < 0.01). We found no depot-differences in preadipocyte replication or apoptosis that would explain lower-body adipocyte hyperplasia and abdominal s.c. adipocyte hypertrophy. However, baseline PPAR?2 and C/EBP? mRNA were higher in abdominal than femoral s.c. preadipocytes (P < 0.005 and P < 0.03, respectively), consistent with the ability of abdominal s.c. adipocytes to achieve a larger size. Inherent differences in preadipocyte cell dynamics may contribute to the distinct responses of different fat depots to overfeeding, and fat-cell number increases in certain depots in adults after only 8 wk of increased food intake.

SUBMITTER: Tchoukalova YD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2964201 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Regional differences in cellular mechanisms of adipose tissue gain with overfeeding.

Tchoukalova Yourka D YD Votruba Susanne B SB Tchkonia Tamara T Giorgadze Nino N Kirkland James L JL Jensen Michael D MD

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20101004 42

Body fat distribution is an important predictor of the metabolic consequences of obesity, but the cellular mechanisms regulating regional fat accumulation are unknown. We assessed the changes in adipocyte size (photomicrographs) and number in response to overfeeding in upper- and lower-body s.c. fat depots of 28 healthy, normal weight adults (15 men) age 29 ± 2 y. We analyzed how these changes relate to regional fat gain (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and computed tomography) and baseline pre ...[more]

PMID: 20921416

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Project description:BackgroundAccumulation of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is clearly associated with an increased risk of obesity-related diseases and all-cause mortality, whereas gluteal subcutaneous fat accumulation (g-SAT) is associated with a lower risk. The relative contribution, in term of cardiovascular risk, of abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (a-SAT) is still controversial with studies showing both a detrimental effect and a protective role. Animal and in vitro studies demonstrated that adipocytes from visceral and subcutaneous depots have distinct morphological, metabolic and functional characteristics. These regional differences have a key role in the pathogenesis of obesity-related diseases. There is recent evidence that differentiation between upper-body and lower-body adipose tissues might be under control of site-specific sets of developmental genes, such as Homebox (HOX) genes, a group of related genes that control the body plan of an embryo along the anterior-posterior axis. However, the possible heterogeneity between different subcutaneous regions has not been extensively investigated. Here we studied global mRNA expression in g-SAT and a-SAT with a microarray approach. RNA was isolated from g-SAT and a-SAT biopsy, from eight healthy subjects, and hybridized on RNA microarray chips in order to detect regional differences in gene expression.ResultsA total of 131 genes are significantly and differently (>1.5 fold change, p < 0.05) expressed in a-SAT and g-SAT. Expression profiling reveals significant differences in expression of several HOX genes. Interestingly, two molecular signature of visceral adipocyte lineage, homebox genes HOXA5 and NR2F1, are up-regulated in a-SAT versus g-SAT by a 2.5 fold change.ConclusionsOur study shows that g-SAT and a-SAT have distinct expression profiles. The finding of a different expression of HOX genes, fundamental during the embryo development, suggests an early regional differentiation of subcutaneous adipose depots. Moreover, the higher expression of HOXA5 and NR2F1, two molecular signatures of visceral adipocytes, in a-SAT suggests that this subcutaneous adipose depot could be more similar to VAT than g-SAT. Our data suggest that we should look at SAT as composed of distinct depots with possibly different impact in obesity associated metabolic complications.

Dataset Information

Regional differences in cellular mechanisms of adipose tissue gain with overfeeding.

Publications

Regional differences in cellular mechanisms of adipose tissue gain with overfeeding.

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