Dynamics of fat cell turnover in humans

Kirsty L. Spalding (), Erik Arner, Pål O. Westermark, Samuel Bernard, Bruce A. Buchholz, Olaf Bergmann, Lennart Blomqvist, Johan Hoffstedt, Erik Näslund, Tom Britton, Hernan Concha, Moustapha Hassan, Mikael Rydén, Jonas Frisén () and Peter Arner ()
Additional contact information
Kirsty L. Spalding: Karolinska Institute
Erik Arner: Karolinska Institute
Pål O. Westermark: Institute for Theoretical Biology (ITB), Humboldt University Berlin and Charité, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
Samuel Bernard: Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, Foundation of Research and Technology
Bruce A. Buchholz: Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, L-397, Livermore, California 94551, USA
Olaf Bergmann: Karolinska Institute
Lennart Blomqvist: Karolinska University Hospital
Johan Hoffstedt: Karolinska University Hospital
Erik Näslund: Danderyds Hospital, Karolinska Institutet
Tom Britton: Stockholm University
Hernan Concha: Karolinska University Hospital
Moustapha Hassan: Karolinska University Hospital
Mikael Rydén: Karolinska University Hospital
Jonas Frisén: Karolinska Institute
Peter Arner: Karolinska University Hospital

Nature, 2008, vol. 453, issue 7196, 783-787

Abstract: Obesity: Fat cell numbers are for life The storage of lipids in pre-existing fat cells is thought to be a major factor in obesity, but beyond that it is not known for certain when in life adipocytes are generated and whether alterations in this process may contribute to obesity. Now a survey of total adipocyte numbers in hundreds of individuals, combined with analysis of the integration of carbon-14 derived from nuclear bomb tests into genomic DNA, has provided a clear picture of metabolism of adipose tissues. The number of fat cells in the body is a major determinant for fat mass in adults, but that number is set during childhood and adolescence and hardly varies during adulthood. Surprisingly, there is a remarkably high turnover of adipocytes within a constant total population. Neither adipocyte death nor generation rate alters during early onset obesity. This newly discovered phenomenon of adipocyte turnover could provide a new target for therapeutic intervention in obesity.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06902

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