Aromatase expression in abdominal omental/visceral and subcutaneous fat depots: a comparison of pregnant and obese women
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Objective To investigate total and promoter expression of aromatase in subcutaneous and omental (visceral) fat and compare this expression in pregnant and obese women.Design Cross-sectional study.Setting Academic hospital.Patient(s) Six women undergoing elective cesarean section and three women undergoing bariatric surgery.Intervention(s) Subcutaneous and omental fat obtained during surgery.Main outcome measure(s) Total aromatase and promoter expression was measured by polymerase chain reaction and protein levels by Western blotting.Result(s) Total aromatase expression was significantly higher in omental compared with subcutaneous fat from pregnant women; this pattern was reversed in obese women. Aromatase messenger RNA in omentum was significantly higher in pregnancy than obesity, and this was linked to an up-regulation of promoter II (PII). Promoter 1.4 (P1.4) expression was lower than PII, and there was no difference in P1.4 expression between the two fat depots from pregnant subjects. In obese women both P1.4 and PII were up-regulated in subcutaneous compared with omental depots, with P1.4 expression greater than that of PII. Aromatase protein levels were extremely low in fat depots of pregnant women and undetectable in obese women.Conclusion(s) There are differences between total aromatase and promoter expression in subcutaneous and omental fat from pregnant compared with obese women. These differences support the evidence that the fat depots are derived from different cell lineages and that the promoter-derived aromatase translation varies according to physiologic/pathophysiologic status.
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Women with obesity express much higher levels of aromatase in subcutaneous adipose tissue compared to visceral adipose tissue.
“women with obesity appear to express much higher levels of aromatase in SAT compared to VAT (193).”
From Metabolic impact of endogenously produced estrogens by adipose tissue in females and males across the lifespan (2025) · cites this paper as [193]
The ‘Total Aromatase mRNA Expression from Fat Depots’ section reports approximately fourfold higher aromatase mRNA in subcutaneous than omental fat from obese women. But ‘Aromatase Protein Expression in Adipose Tissue Samples’ says aromatase protein was not detected in their fat samples, so the unqualified claim is supported for mRNA expression, not demonstrated protein levels. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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References 30 · Cited by 13
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Agarwal VR, Ashanullah CI, Simpson ER, Bulun SE. Alternatively spliced transcipts of the aromatse cytochrome P450 (CYP19) gene in adipose tissue of women. J Clin Endocrinol Metabol 1997;82:70-4.
- Authors
- Rice, S., Patel, B., Bano, G., Ugwumadu, A., & Whitehead, S. A.
- Affiliations
- St George's, University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Rice, Suman
- Venue
- Fertility and Sterility
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-06
- Volume
- 97
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1460-1466.e1
- ISSN
- 0015-0282 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1993657612
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 0.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Fertility and Sterility (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- St. George's, University of London
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Estrogen and related hormone effects
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Ovarian function and disorders
- Keywords
- aromatase, omental fat, subcutaneous adipose tissue, visceral fat, fat depots, pregnancy, obesity, aromatase mRNA, cesarean section, bariatric surgery
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aromatase, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Obesity, Omentum, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Proteins, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic, Subcutaneous Fat, Intra-Abdominal Fat
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