Aregs inhibit obesity
Fat cells (adipocytes) are involved in maintaining the balance of nutrition and metabolism. Adipogenesis is the process of formation of mature fat cells from progenitor cells. Excessive activity of adipogenesis can lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, diseases of the cardiovascular system.
Identifying the progenitor cells of fat cells and determining their molecular properties proved to be a difficult task. This is due to the fact that adipose tissue contains a large number of stromal cells, which are difficult to distinguish using traditional approaches such as genetic labeling.
Scientists from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (École polytechnique féderale de Lausanne), the Swiss Higher Technical School of Zurich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich) and the Swiss Stem Cell Foundation (Swiss Stem Cell Foundation) led by Gianni Soldati used the technology of transcriptomics of single cells to elucidate the characteristics of various types of stromal cells of adipose tissue.
This method makes it possible to simultaneously identify the genes involved in the expression process in thousands of cells. Since cells within the same subpopulation have similar gene expression profiles, the data obtained can be used to combine into groups of molecularly similar cells.
Using this approach, the researchers were able to identify several subpopulations of stromal cells in the adipose tissue of mice. Each of these subpopulations has been isolated and studied.
The researchers found that the cells of one of them, CD142 – adipogenesis-regulatory cells – not only do not differentiate into adipocytes, but also actively suppress the adipogenesis of other progenitor cells using the paracrine mechanism in vitro and in vivo. This subpopulation is called Aregs – regulators of adipogenesis.
On the left are human fat cells grown in a Petri dish; lipid inclusions are colored green. On the right is the fatty tissue of the mouse: in the center is a blood vessel (colored red), around it Aregs (marked with an arrow). Source: B. Deplancke/EPFL.
Next, the authors studied human adipose tissue and found a similar mechanism for suppressing adipogenesis in one of the subpopulations of cells. These results mean that Aregs or links of their mechanism of action can be used to regulate the plasticity of human adipose tissue. In the long term, this will have an impact on the tactics of combating obesity and reducing insulin sensitivity and will allow the treatment of metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes.
In addition, the regulation of adipogenesis can be used to slow down aging, since over time fat cells accumulate in some tissues (bone marrow, muscles), which negatively affects their function.
Article by P. C. Schwalie et al. A stromal cell population that inhibits adipogenesis in mammalian fat depots is published in the journal Nature.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on EPFL materials: The cells that control the formation of fat.