No abstract

The average fat mass in adults increases dramatically with age, and older people often suffer from visceral obesity and related adverse metabolic disorders. Unfortunately, how aging leads to fat accumulation is poorly understood. It is known that fat cell (adipocyte) turnover is very low in young mice, similar to that in young humans. Here, we find that mice mimic age-related fat expansion in humans. In vivo lineage tracing shows that massive adipogenesis (the generation of new adipocytes) , especially in the visceral fat, is triggered during aging. Thus, in contrast to most types of adult stem cells that exhibit a reduced ability to proliferate and differentiate, the adipogenic potential of adipocyte progenitor cells (APCs) is unlocked by aging. In vivo transplantation and 3D imaging of transplants show that APCs in aged mice cell-autonomously gain high adipogenic capacity. Single-cell RNA sequencing analyses reveal that aging globally remodels APCs. Herein, we identify a novel committed preadipocyte population that is age-specific (CP-A) , existing both in mice and humans, with a global activation of proliferation and adipogenesis pathways. CP-A cells display high proliferation and adipogenesis activity, both in vivo and in vitro. LIFR serves as a functional maker of CP-A, which promotes CP-A proliferation. Together, these findings define a new fundamental mechanism involved in fat tissue aging and offer prospects for preventing and treating age-related metabolic disorders. Disclosure Q.Wang: None. L.Jiang: None. X.Yang: None. G.Wang: None. G.Li: None. Funding American Diabetes Association (1-19-JDF-023) ; National Institutes of Health R01AG063854, R01HD096152, and R01DK128907

In the United States, more than 70% of adults are overweight or obese, caused primarily by excess energy intake in modern society. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) can function as an “energy sink” in mammals, since BAT is specialized with uncoupling respiration, which burns energy to maintain body temperature. Unfortunately, thermogenesis in brown adipocytes dramatically declines in obese individuals, contributing to the development of obesity-related metabolic disorders. Although both lipids and glucose have been viewed as major energy substrates for thermogenesis, most of the early studies have been focusing on fatty acid oxidation. Recently, we found that BAT had the most active glucose oxidation among metabolic active tissues, and chronic cold exposure significantly enhanced glucose oxidation in mice BAT. Furthermore, in vivo administration of a mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) inhibitor impaired glucose oxidation and thermogenesis in BAT, which was consistent with the impaired thermogenesis of a recently published mouse model of constitutive BAT-selective deletion of MPC1 (Ucp1-MPC1-KO) . In order to directly study the role of MPC in mature brown adipocytes, we generated a Tet-on inducible Ucp1‑specific MPC2 knockout (Ucp1‑MPC2‑iKO) mouse model. As expected, Ucp1-MPC2-iKO mice couldn’t maintain body temperature upon acute cold exposure, after prolonged loss of MPC in mature brown adipocytes. Interesting, adult Ucp1-MPC2-iKO mice were cold-resistant, after the acute loss of MPC in the mature brown adipocytes, which were different from the constitutive Ucp1-MPC1-KO mice. Together, our study suggests that although glucose oxidation is essential to optimal BAT thermogenesis, MPC-independent metabolism exists to maintain glucose oxidation and thermogenesis in BAT. Disclosure L. Jiang: None. Q. Wang: None.