Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Brown adipose tissue plays a pivotal role in mammal metabolism and thermogenesis. It has a great therapeutic potential in several metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are suitable candidates for brown adipose tissue formation de novo. Ppargamma2 and C/ebpalpha are nucleic receptors known to mediate adipogenic differentiation. We hypothesized that overexpression of the Ppargamma2 and C/ebpalpha genes in MSCs would lead to the formation of adipose tissue. MATERIALS & METHODS: MSCs bearing the Luc reporter gene were transfected to overexpress Ppargamma2 and C/ebpalpha. Differentiation of nucleofected cells was evaluated in vitro and in vivo following ectopic implantation of the cells in C3H/HeN mice. RESULTS: After implantation, the engineered cells survived for 5 weeks and brown adipose-like tissue was observed in histological samples. Immunostaining and bioluminescent imaging showed new adipocytes expressing Luc and the brown adipose tissue marker, UCP1, in vitro and in vivo. CONCLUSION: We show that gene delivery of transcription factors into MSCs generates brown adipose tissue in vitro and in vivo.

Notes:

Sheyn, Dmitriy Pelled, Gadi Tawackoli, Wafa Su, Susan Ben-David, Shiran Gazit, Dan Gazit, Zulma eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2013/05/01 06:00 Regen Med. 2013 May;8(3):295-308. doi: 10.2217/rme.13.25.

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