Skip to main content
Log in

ADIPOSE TISSUE

Insulin sensitive human adipocytes for in vitro studies

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Reviews Endocrinology

View current issue Sign up to alerts

Adipocyte insulin resistance is a driving force for systemic insulin resistance. Advances in human stem cell culture have established conditions for human adipocytes that give rise to a reproducible population of adipocytes that retain a high level of insulin sensitivity, paving the way for high throughput screening approaches.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  1. Wilding, J. P. H. et al. Once-weekly semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity. N. Engl. J. Med. 384, 989–1002 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Jastreboff, A. M. et al. Tirzepatide once weekly for the treatment of obesity. N. Engl. J. Med. 387, 205–216 (2022).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Müller, T. D., Blüher, M., Tschöp, M. H. & DiMarchi, R. D. Anti-obesity drug discovery: advances and challenges. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 21, 201–223 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Friesen, M. et al. Development of a physiological insulin resistance model in human stem cell-derived adipocytes. Sci. Adv. 8, eabn7298 (2022).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ahfeldt, T. et al. Programming human pluripotent stem cells into white and brown adipocytes. Nat. Cell Biol. 14, 209–219 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lin, Y. et al. The hyperglycemia-induced inflammatory response in adipocytes: the role of reactive oxygen species. J. Biol. Chem. 280, 4617–4626 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Brown, M. S. & Goldstein, J. L. Selective versus total insulin resistance: a pathogenic paradox. Cell Metab. 7, 95–96 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Zhao, S., Kusminski, C. M., Elmquist, J. K. & Scherer, P. E. Leptin: less is more. Diabetes 69, 823–829 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Kono, T. & Barham, F. W. The relationship between the insulin-binding capacity of fat cells and the cellular response to insulin. Studies with intact and trypsin-treated fat cells. J. Biol. Chem. 246, 6210–6216 (1971).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Straub, L. G. et al. Antioxidants protect against diabetes by improving glucose homeostasis in mouse models of inducible insulin resistance and obesity. Diabetologia 62, 2094–2105 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

L.G.S. is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) grant #444933586. P.E.S. is supported by US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants R01-DK55758, R01-DK127274, R01-DK099110, R01-DK131537 and RC2-DK118620.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Philipp E. Scherer.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Straub, L.G., Scherer, P.E. Insulin sensitive human adipocytes for in vitro studies. Nat Rev Endocrinol 18, 591–592 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-022-00727-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-022-00727-x

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation