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Sex Difference in the Fraction of Adipose‐derived Stromovascular Cells as Preadipocytes
Author(s) -
Tchoukalova Yourka Dimova,
Votruba Susanne,
Koutsari Christina,
Jensen Michael
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a167-b
Subject(s) - adipose tissue , medicine , endocrinology , adipocyte , abdomen , adipogenesis , white adipose tissue , chemistry , anatomy
Women differ from men by the larger lower‐body subcutaneous fat mass and the tendency to gain more fat in that depot if obesity develops. We hypothesized that these differences in fat distribution may depend on preadipocyte availability. We identified the proportion of preadipocytes from the stromovascular (SV) cells in adipose tissue by immunofluorescent staining for aP2 (the adipocyte fatty acid trafficking protein) and CD68 (a macrophage marker). Macrophages are the other cell type, aside from preadipocytes, in the SV fraction of adipose tissue that express aP2. We determined the percent preadipocytes in the SV fraction of subcutaneous abdominal and femoral adipose tissue of 17 premenopausal lean women and 10 age‐matched lean men. Body fat compartments were measured by DEXA and CT scans of the abdomen. Compared to men, women had less visceral fat and more subcutaneous fat mass, predominantly in the lower‐body compartment: 7.0 ± 0.3 kg vs. 5.2 ± 0.4 kg, respectively (p < 0.01). Femoral adipocytes were significantly larger than abdominal adipocytes in both groups (lipid per fat cell in women and men: abdomen, 0.46 ± 0.03 and 0.44 ± 0.06 μg/cell; thigh, 0.66 ± 0.04 and 0.55 ± 0.08 μg/cell, respectively). The percent preadipocytes in the SV fraction from femoral subcutaneous adipose tissue was greater in women than in men (29.7 ± 2.6% vs. 19.3 ± 2.0%, p < 0.02) but similar when isolated from the abdominal depot (29.9 ± 3.3% vs. 27.2 ± 1.9%). Our findings suggest that the fraction of femoral stromovascular cells as preadipocytes is a potential factor for sex‐dependent differences in regional fat distribution. The study was funded by RO1 DK 45343‐13S to M. Jensen.