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Current Diabetes Reports
Published in: Current Diabetes Reports 4/2022

01-04-2022 | Pathogenesis of Type 2 Diabetes and Insulin Resistance (M-E Patti, Section Editor)

It Is Not Just Fat: Dissecting the Heterogeneity of Adipose Tissue Function

Authors: Vissarion Efthymiou, Mary-Elizabeth Patti

Published in: Current Diabetes Reports | Issue 4/2022

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Abstract

Purpose of Review

The purpose of the current review is to summarize findings from the most recent and impactful studies which investigated human and mouse adipose tissue transcriptomes at a single-cell level. We provide perspective about the potential importance of data derived from these single-cell technologies in improving our understanding of the adipose organ and metabolic disease and likely future directions of this approach.

Recent Findings

The majority of single-cell or single-nuclei studies of the adipose organ so far have focused on investigating the stromal-vascular fraction (SVF) of mouse subcutaneous and intraabdominal white and interscapular brown fat depots. Few studies have also evaluated the impact of additional factors as drivers of adipose phenotypes, such as high-fat diet-induced obesity, adolescence, aging, and cold exposure. Recent studies have also investigated human cell lines and human fat biopsies across a range of body mass index (BMI) and in response to insulin resistance or T2D. These studies have identified numerous previously unexplored subpopulations of adipocyte progenitors, immune cells, and mature adipocytes in both mice and men.

Summary

Single-cell and single-nuclei technologies have brought an explosion of data that have advanced our understanding of the adipose organ in health and disease. However, we are still at the dawn of achieving a complete and comprehensive map of the mouse and human adipose organ. Multi-modal single-cell approaches to identify both anatomic localization of specific cellular populations and epigenetic mechanisms responsible for observed transcriptomic patterns are underway and will likely provide an even deeper understanding of the adipose organ in response to health and disease.
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Metadata
Title
It Is Not Just Fat: Dissecting the Heterogeneity of Adipose Tissue Function
Authors
Vissarion Efthymiou
Mary-Elizabeth Patti
Publication date
01-04-2022
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Current Diabetes Reports / Issue 4/2022
Print ISSN: 1534-4827
Electronic ISSN: 1539-0829
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-022-01455-2

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