Open Access

REVIEW

New models of adipogenic differentiation highlight a cell-autonomous response to temperature

KSENIJA VELICKOVIC^1,2,#, HILDA ANAID LUGO LEIJA^1,3,#, SARAH MCGINLAY^1,3,#, MICHAEL E. SYMONDS^1,3, VIRGINIE SOTTILE^1,4,*

1 School of Medicine, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
2 Faculty of Biology, The University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
3 The Early Life Research Unit, Academic Division of Child Health, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Nottingham Digestive Disease Centre and Biomedical Research Centre, The School of Medicine, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
4 Department of Molecular Medicine, The University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

* Address correspondence to: Virginie Sottile,
# These authors contributed equally to the paper.

BIOCELL 2020, 44(4), 501-512. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2020.012942

Received 18 July 2020; Accepted 25 September 2020; Issue published 24 December 2020

Abstract

Temperature is a key regulator of brown adipose tissue (BAT) function, acting through central sensory inputs to influence metabolism and energy storage. Although animal models have produced a wealth of information on the pathways, effectors and responses mediating the physiological response of adipose tissue to temperature in vivo, the use of cell culture models now offers evidence of an additional cell-autonomous response to temperature changes, in the absence of neural input. In particular, stem cell models provide new insight into the regulation of adipogenic differentiation and the induction of browning features in vitro. Here the basis for adipogenic responsiveness to low temperature is discussed, together with different human cell models available to outline the benefits of cell-based approaches for future BAT research.

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