Cited by 518Adipose Tissue and MetabolismAdipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic DiseasesCardiovascular Disease and Adiposity

Visceral and subcutaneous fat have different origins and evidence supports a mesothelial source

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Chau, You-Ying, Bandiera, Roberto, Serrels, Alan, Martínez-Estrada, Ofelia M., Qing, Wei, Lee, Martin, Slight, Joan, Thornburn, Anna +7 more·2014·Nature Cell Biology

Abstract

Fuelled by the obesity epidemic, there is considerable interest in the developmental origins of white adipose tissue (WAT) and the stem and progenitor cells from which it arises. Whereas increased visceral fat mass is associated with metabolic dysfunction, increased subcutaneous WAT is protective. There are six visceral fat depots: perirenal, gonadal, epicardial, retroperitoneal, omental and mesenteric, and it is a subject of much debate whether these have a common developmental origin and whether this differs from that for subcutaneous WAT. Here we show that all six visceral WAT depots receive a significant contribution from cells expressing Wt1 late in gestation. Conversely, no subcutaneous WAT or brown adipose tissue arises from Wt1-expressing cells. Postnatally, a subset of visceral WAT continues to arise from Wt1-expressing cells, consistent with the finding that Wt1 marks a proportion of cell populations enriched in WAT progenitors. We show that all visceral fat depots have a mesothelial layer like the visceral organs with which they are associated, and provide several lines of evidence that Wt1-expressing mesothelium can produce adipocytes. These results reveal a major ontogenetic difference between visceral and subcutaneous WAT, and pinpoint the lateral plate mesoderm as a major source of visceral WAT. They also support the notion that visceral WAT progenitors are heterogeneous, and suggest that mesothelium is a source of adipocytes.

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Authors
Chau, Y.-Y., Bandiera, R., Serrels, A., Martínez-Estrada, O. M., Qing, W., Lee, M., Slight, J., Thornburn, A., Berry, R., McHaffie, S., Stimson, R. H., Walker, B. R., Chapuli, R. M., Schedl, A., & Hastie, N.
Affiliations
  • Western General Hospital (GB)
  • Inserm (FR)
  • Universitat de Barcelona (ES)
  • The Queen's Medical Research Institute (GB)
Corresponding author
  • Chau, You-Ying
  • Hastie, Nick
Venue
Nature Cell Biology
Published
2014-03-09
Volume
16
Issue
4
Pages
367-375
ISSN
  • 1465-7392 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4679
OpenAlex
W2081513869
Cited by
518
References
29
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 45 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 53 · 2018: 50 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 50 · 2015: 41 · 2014: 14
FWCI
30.96
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Cell Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RECERCAT (Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya) (acceptedVersion)
  • Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • Dipòsit Digital de la Universitat de Barcelona (Universitat de Barcelona) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
  • Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity)
Funders
  • Universidad de Málaga
  • Wellcome Trust (091374/Z/10/Z)
  • British Heart Foundation (RG/11/4/28734)
  • Agence Nationale de la Recherche
  • Directorate for Biological Sciences
  • Medical Research Council (MR/K010271/1)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Adipose Tissue and Metabolism
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Disease and Adiposity
Keywords
visceral adipose tissue, subcutaneous adipose tissue, mesothelium, WT1, adipocyte origin, adipose tissue development, lateral plate mesoderm, brown adipose tissue, adipose tissue heterogeneity, obesity
MeSH terms
Animals, Adipose Tissue, Brown, Mesoderm, Tamoxifen, Adipocytes, Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal, Cell Lineage, WT1 Proteins, Green Fluorescent Proteins, Mice, Adipose Tissue, White, Gene Knock-In Techniques

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