Adipocyte Inflammation is Essential for Healthy Adipose Tissue Expansion and Remodeling

By I. W. Asterholm, Caroline Tao, Thomas S. Morley, Qiong A. Wang, F. Delgado-Lopez, Zhao V. Wang, P. Scherer. Cell Metabolism, 2014

606 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Summary Chronic inflammation constitutes an important link between obesity and its pathophysiological sequelae. In contrast to the belief that inflammatory signals exert a fundamentally negative impact on metabolism, we show that pro-inflammatory signaling in the adipocyte is in fact required for proper adipose tissue remodeling and expansion. Three mouse models with an adipose tissue-specific reduction in pro-inflammatory potential were generated that display a reduced capacity for adipogenesis in vivo, while the differentiation potential is unaffected in vitro. Upon high fat diet exposure, the expansion of visceral adipose tissue is prominently affected. This is associated with decreased intestinal barrier function, increased hepatic steatosis and metabolic dysfunction. An impaired local pro-inflammatory response in the adipocyte leads to increased ectopic lipid accumulation, glucose intolerance and systemic inflammation. Adipose tissue inflammation is therefore an adaptive response that enables safe storage of excess nutrients and contributes to a visceral depot barrier that effectively filters gut-derived endotoxin.

Subfields: Epidemiology, Physiology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/934c336d2470c0aa1994092d79a1b2347bd48cf3

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Citations in the corpus

Chronic Adipose Tissue Inflammation Linking Obesity to Insulin Resistance and Type 2 Diabetes (2020, background): “In addition, a recent study showed that acute and transient inflammation is essential for healthy AT expansion and remodeling in obesity (Asterholm et al., 2014).”
Adipose Tissue Distribution, Inflammation and Its Metabolic Consequences, Including Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease (2020, background): “This implies that adipose tissue inflammation during the initial stages of weight loss could be required for the pronounced adipose tissue remodeling required for fat loss (284, 553).”
The ominous triad of adipose tissue dysfunction: inflammation, fibrosis, and impaired angiogenesis. (2017, positive): “Increased AT DNA damage and resulting cellular senescence have been identified in mice fed a HFD for 20 weeks (102).”