Invited review: Pre- and postnatal adipose tissue development in farm animals: from stem cells to adipocyte physiology

Abstract

Both white and brown adipose tissues are recognized to be differently involved in energy metabolism and are also able to secrete a variety of factors called adipokines that are involved in a wide range of physiological and metabolic functions. Brown adipose tissue is predominant around birth, except in pigs. Irrespective of species, white adipose tissue has a large capacity to expand postnatally and is able to adapt to a variety of factors. The aim of this review is to update the cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with pre-and postnatal adipose tissue development with a special focus on pigs and ruminants. In contrast to other tissues, the embryonic origin of adipose cells remains the subject of debate. Adipose cells arise from the recruitment of specific multipotent stem cells/progenitors named adipose tissue-derived stromal cells. Recent studies have highlighted the existence of a variety of those cells being able to differentiate into white, brown or brown-like/beige adipocytes. After commitment to the adipocyte lineage, progenitors undergo large changes in the expression of many genes involved in cell cycle arrest, lipid accumulation and secretory functions. Early nutrition can affect these processes during fetal and perinatal periods and can also influence or pre-determinate later growth of adipose tissue. How these changes may be related to adipose tissue functional maturity around birth and can influence newborn survival is discussed. Altogether, a better knowledge of fetal and postnatal adipose tissue development is important for various aspects of animal production, including neonatal survival, postnatal growth efficiency and health.

Nuclear organization during in vitro differentiation of porcine mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into adipocytes

“…Domestic pig (Sus scrofa) is considered as an attractive large animal model for studies on human obesity in terms of similarities found at the anatomical, physiological, pathological, and genomic levels (Spurlock and Gabler 2008;Stachowiak et al 2016). Knowledge on cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with adipose tissue development is also needed as far as pig production is concerned, since it may affect neonatal survival, postnatal growth efficiency, and health (Louveau et al 2016). Moreover, this species has also been recognized as a model organism for interphase genome organization (Foster et al 2012).…”

Cellularity Description of Adipose Depots in Domesticated Animals

“…From a production standpoint, not all the depots have the same value, with the depositing of IM fat, or marbling, being desirable because of its beneficial effects on sensory attributes and hence its decisive role in determining meat quality [21]. In contrast, the accumulation of excess fat in certain depots has an adverse effect by increasing production costs while decreasing product quality [15,22]. For instance, visceral fat is mostly discarded at slaughter, while an excess of SC fat lowers the commercial value of carcasses.…”

“…The adipocytes in white adipose tissue are ordinarily large (in cattle they can reach sizes of up to 180 μm in diameter) [12], and they have few mitochondria, their cytoplasm being almost entirely taken up by a single fat vacuole [13,14]. In addition to its endocrine function, this fatty tissue subtype also plays a structural role, providing mechanical support and protection for certain parts of the body [3,15,16].…”

Ovine prenatal growth-restriction and sex influence fetal adipose tissue phenotype and impact postnatal lipid metabolism and adiposity in vivo from birth until adulthood

“…Thereafter adipose tissue is central to energy metabolism and developmentally programmed alterations in adipose tissue physiology are considered a common phenotypic feature underlying a range of issues that become apparent in postnatal life [3]. In humans these include metabolic, cardiovascular and reproductive disorders [4][5][6], while in meat producing species excess body fat negatively impacts meat quality and hence financial returns to the producer [7,8].…”