In mammals, two types of adipose tissue are present, brown and white. They develop sequentially, as brown fat occurs during late gestation whereas white fat grows mainly after birth. However, both tissues have been shown to have great plasticity. Thus an apparent transformation of brown fat into white fat takes place during post-natal development. This observation raises questions about a possible conversion of brown into white adipocytes during development, although indirect data argue against this hypothesis. To investigate such questions in vivo, we generated two types of transgenic line. The first carried a transgene expressing Cre recombinase specifically in brown adipocytes under the control of the rat UCP1 promoter. The second corresponded to an inactive lacZ gene under the control of the human cytomegalovirus promoter. This dormant gene is inducible by Cre because it contains a Stop sequence between two loxP sequences, separating the promoter from the coding sequence. Adipose tissues of progeny derived by crossing independent lines established from both constructs were investigated. LacZ mRNA corresponding to the activated reporter gene was easily detected in brown fat and not typically in white fat, even by reverse transcriptase PCR experiments. These data represent the first direct experimental proof that, during normal development, most white adipocytes do not derive from brown adipocytes.
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Research Article|
May 24 2001
Emergence during development of the white-adipocyte cell phenotype is independent of the brown-adipocyte cell phenotype
Karine MOULIN;
Karine MOULIN
∗UMR-CNRS 5018, IFR 31, Bat L1, CHU Rangueil, 31054 Toulouse, France
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Nathalie TRUEL;
Nathalie TRUEL
∗UMR-CNRS 5018, IFR 31, Bat L1, CHU Rangueil, 31054 Toulouse, France
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Mireille ANDRÉ;
Mireille ANDRÉ
∗UMR-CNRS 5018, IFR 31, Bat L1, CHU Rangueil, 31054 Toulouse, France
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Emmanuelle ARNAULD;
Emmanuelle ARNAULD
∗UMR-CNRS 5018, IFR 31, Bat L1, CHU Rangueil, 31054 Toulouse, France
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Maryse NIBBELINK;
Maryse NIBBELINK
∗UMR-CNRS 5018, IFR 31, Bat L1, CHU Rangueil, 31054 Toulouse, France
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Béatrice COUSIN;
Béatrice COUSIN
∗UMR-CNRS 5018, IFR 31, Bat L1, CHU Rangueil, 31054 Toulouse, France
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Christian DANI;
Christian DANI
†UMR-CNRS 6543, Centre de Biochimie, Parc Valrose, 06200 Nice, France
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Luc PÉNICAUD;
Luc PÉNICAUD
∗UMR-CNRS 5018, IFR 31, Bat L1, CHU Rangueil, 31054 Toulouse, France
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Louis CASTEILLA
Louis CASTEILLA
1
∗UMR-CNRS 5018, IFR 31, Bat L1, CHU Rangueil, 31054 Toulouse, France
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (e-mail casteil@rangueil.inserm.fr).
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
November 07 2000
Revision Received:
February 05 2001
Accepted:
March 13 2001
Online ISSN: 1470-8728
Print ISSN: 0264-6021
The Biochemical Society, London ©2001
2001
Biochem J (2001) 356 (2): 659–664.
Article history
Received:
November 07 2000
Revision Received:
February 05 2001
Accepted:
March 13 2001
Citation
Karine MOULIN, Nathalie TRUEL, Mireille ANDRÉ, Emmanuelle ARNAULD, Maryse NIBBELINK, Béatrice COUSIN, Christian DANI, Luc PÉNICAUD, Louis CASTEILLA; Emergence during development of the white-adipocyte cell phenotype is independent of the brown-adipocyte cell phenotype. Biochem J 1 June 2001; 356 (2): 659–664. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/bj3560659
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