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Mammary alveolar epithelial cells convert to brown adipocytes in post‐lactating mice
Author(s) -
Giordano Antonio,
Perugini Jessica,
Kristensen David M.,
Sartini Loris,
Frontini Andrea,
Kajimura Shingo,
Kristiansen Karsten,
Cinti Saverio
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of cellular physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 174
eISSN - 1097-4652
pISSN - 0021-9541
DOI - 10.1002/jcp.25858
Subject(s) - mammary gland , involution (esoterism) , lactation , medicine , endocrinology , adipose tissue , biology , white adipose tissue , adipocyte , microbiology and biotechnology , pregnancy , consciousness , genetics , cancer , neuroscience , breast cancer
During pregnancy and lactation, subcutaneous white adipocytes in the mouse mammary gland transdifferentiate reversibly to milk‐secreting epithelial cells. In this study, we demonstrate by transmission electron microscopy that in the post‐lactating mammary gland interscapular multilocular adipocytes found close to the mammary alveoli contain milk protein granules. Use of the Cre‐loxP recombination system allowed showing that the involuting mammary gland of whey acidic protein‐Cre/R26R mice, whose secretory alveolar cells express the lacZ gene during pregnancy, contains some X‐Gal‐stained and uncoupling protein 1‐positive interscapular multilocular adipocytes. These data suggest that during mammary gland involution some milk‐secreting epithelial cells in the anterior subcutaneous depot may transdifferentiate to brown adipocytes, highlighting a hitherto unappreciated feature of mouse adipose organ plasticity.