( Human Primary Preadipocytes and Di...)Human Primary Preadipocytes and Differentiated Adipocytes

A new paradigm for energy metabolism research

Yuan-Di C. Halvorsen
Zen-Bio, Inc.

Peter Pingerelli Matt C. Petre
Stratagene

Regis Saladin
Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Michael R. Briggs
SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals

Stratagene introduces new tools to facilitate the study of human adipocyte biology: Human Predifferentiated Adipocytes and Human Differentiated Adipocytes. Adipose tissue is a differentiated endocrine organ that primarily functions to manage energy homeostasis. Human primary adipocytes represent a model system to study these complex processes. The stromal-vascular fraction from adipose tissue can be processed to isolate preadipocytes and induced with hormones to differentiate into adipocytes. The resulting in vitro differentiated cells are functionally similar to primary human adipocytes and can be cultured for weeks without loss of adipocyte-specific markers, unlike the fragile primary adipocytes that die within 24 hours.

The study of adipocyte biology is important not only to understand metabolic diseases (including obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and atherosclerosis), but to develop pharmacological agents to treat such maladies. Adipose tissue is critical for maintaining energy balance, because it serves both as a storage depot and an endocrine organ.¹ It is actively involved in sensing the nutritional state of the organism through several different signaling pathways. It responds by altering the expression of genetic pathways to mobilize or store energy and activating signals to other tissues to regulate energy balance.

Previously, all research in adipocyte biology was conducted using rodent cells, mainly transformed cell lines.² However,
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