米色脂肪细胞来源的研究进展

Recent Progress in the Origins of Beige Adipocytes

机体中存在两类脂肪细胞,白脂肪细胞和棕脂肪细胞。在寒冷和肾上腺素等的刺激下,白脂肪组织中出现一种与经典棕脂肪细胞显著不同的新型脂肪细胞——米色脂肪细胞,其形态、表型和基因表达均介于白脂肪细胞和棕脂肪细胞之间。但米色脂肪细胞与另两种脂肪细胞的发育起源不同,其起源具有多样性,且平滑肌细胞是其可能的前体细胞之一。棕色化过程中米色细胞的来源尚有争议,一部分学者认为其由前体细胞从头分化而来,而另一派学者支持它由白脂肪细胞转分化而来。米色脂肪细胞在治疗肥胖症和代谢综合征上有很好的应用前景。

Adipocytes existing in adipose tissue are classified into white adipocytes and brown adipocytes. When activated by cold stimulates or adrenaline, a distinct type of adipocytes emerges in white adipose tissue, named beige adipocytes. Beige adipocytes are remarkably different from classical brown adipocytes, and have intermediate morphological characteristics and gene expression pattern between the white and classical brown adipocytes. But unbiased gene expression analysis indicates beige adipocytes have different developmental origins from white and classical brown adipocytes. It is under debating that whether the newly emerged beige adipocytes are from de novo differentiation of precursors （ smooth muscle cell is possibly one of them） or transdifferentiation from white adipocytes. Beige adipocytes are promising in treating obesity and metabolic syndromes.