16.06.2023
Markussen and Mandrup review how white adipocytes exhibit remarkable plasticity in response to nutritional overload, with limits to this adaptability contributing to metabolic disease. They highlight insights from recent single-cell studies on adipocyte heterogeneity and function, and discuss key challenges and future directions for understanding healthy versus unhealthy adipose tissue expansion.
White adipocytes possess extraordinary plasticity with an unparalleled capacity to expand in size with nutritional overload. Several lines of evidence indicate that limitations to this plasticity, as found in both lipodystrophy and obesity, drive several of the comorbidities of these disease, thereby underscoring the need to understand the mechanisms of healthy and unhealthy adipose expansion. Recent single-cell technologies and studies of isolated adipocytes have allowed researchers to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms of adipocyte plasticity. Here, we review current insight into the effect of nutritional overload on white adipocyte gene expression and function. We review the role of adipocyte size and heterogeneity and discuss the challenges and future directions.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gde.2023.102060
