Beneficial Effects of Subcutaneous Fat Transplantation on Metabolism

Abstract

Subcutaneous (SC) and visceral (VIS) obesity are associated with different risks of diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. To elucidate whether these differences are due to anatomic location or intrinsic differences in adipose depots, we characterized mice after transplantation of SC or VIS fat from donor mice into either SC or VIS regions of recipient mice. The group with SC fat transplanted into the VIS cavity exhibited decreased body weight, total fat mass, and glucose and insulin levels. These mice also exhibited improved insulin sensitivity during hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps with increased whole-body glucose uptake, glucose uptake into endogenous fat, and insulin suppression of hepatic glucose production. These effects were observed to a lesser extent with SC fat transplanted to the SC area, whereas VIS fat transplanted to the VIS area was without effect. These data suggest that SC fat is intrinsically different from VIS fat and produces substances that can act systemically to improve glucose metabolism.

Pioglitazone enhances small-sized adipocyte proliferation in subcutaneous adipose tissue

“…Adipose tissue is classified into visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue according to its anatomical location in the body. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that an increase in visceral adipose tissue is associated with insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis [20,21], whereas the finding that transplantation of subcutaneous adipose tissue improves insulin sensitivity [22] indicates a beneficial expressing mature β-cells that can replicate and those that cannot, whereas the potential origin of β-cells is regarded to be pluripotent stem cells [15]. The question of whether all small adipocytes have the potential to proliferate is unsolved.…”

Mesodermal developmental gene Tbx15 impairs adipocyte differentiation and mitochondrial respiration

“…Indeed, intraabdominal/visceral fat accumulation is associated with a higher risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome, whereas increased s.c. fat in the thighs and hips may even have a protective effect (4,8,26). A growing body of evidence suggests that these depot-specific associations are due to intrinsic differences in the properties of adipocytes in each depot (27,28) and the consequence of a divergence in their developmental origin (1,(9)(10)(11)(12)29).…”

“…This phenomenon is related to the differential function of adipose tissue depots, including differences in adipokine secretion, lipolytic rate, and free fatty acid release (6,7). These properties are intrinsic to the cells in each depot and can be observed even after adipose tissue transplantation (8).…”

Lipodystrophy: metabolic insights from a rare disorder

“…Visceral depots produce more proinflammatory cytokines including TNFa and IL6, and less adiponectin. Indeed, transplantation of subcutaneous fat into the abdominal cavity improved the metabolic profile of mice, while visceral-to-visceral or visceral-to-subcutaneous transplantation had little effect, providing further evidence in favour of subcutaneous fat depots being essential for metabolic homeostasis (Tran et al 2008).…”