#adipocytes

Propaganda!

Adipocytes, also known as lipocytes and fat cells, are the cells that primarily compose adipose tissue, specialized in storing energy as fat. Adipocytes are derived from mesenchymal stem cells which give rise to adipocytes through adipogenesis. In cell culture, adipocyte progenitors can also form osteoblasts, myocytes and other cell types. There are two types of adipose tissue, white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT), which are also known as white and brown fat, respectively, and comprise two types of fat cells.

Fat Checking

Protein called IGFBP2 secreted by healthy fat cells of the breast limit the progression of a non-invasive type of breast cancer to invasive

Read the published research paper here

Image from work by James R. W. Conway and colleagues

Turku Bioscience Centre, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Science Advances, July 2023

Propaganda!

Adipocytes, also known as lipocytes and fat cells, are the cells that primarily compose adipose tissue, specialized in storing energy as fat. Adipocytes are derived from mesenchymal stem cells which give rise to adipocytes through adipogenesis. In cell culture, adipocyte progenitors can also form osteoblasts, myocytes and other cell types. There are two types of adipose tissue, white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT), which are also known as white and brown fat, respectively, and comprise two types of fat cells.

Micro Diet

After a year’s various indulgences, some of us will make resolutions to exercise more. This not only burns off calories, but also fuels the body’s capacity to keep weight under control, in part by boosting microRNAs – small strands of genetic material that can promote energy use. An alternative way to trigger this process might help people accomplish their weight-loss goals. A new study has looked at how enoxacin – an antibiotic rarely used any more – can encourage metabolism in cells and hence keep weight down. In experiments with mice, it caused microRNAs to make obesity-promoting white fat (which stores surplus energy as fat) behave like brown fat (which turns food to heat), and increased energy expenditure in cells (enoxacin-stimulated fat cells pictured). Enhancing our body’s natural ability to prevent obesity could help tackle a growing health problem, and maybe make next year’s indulgences a little less costly.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by Andréa Livia Rocha and colleagues

Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil

Image copyright held by the original authors

Research published in Science Advances, December 2020

Following my exploration of adipose hypertrophy and mitosis and building on my broader journey to understand weight loss and metabolism, I’m now delving into the inner workings of fat cells. This post, part of my series on Dan Snell’s blog, focuses on the composition of lipid droplets within adipocytes—the storage units of fat in our bodies. While we often think of fat as just stored energy,…