ABOVE: ©ISTOCK, gorkemdemir
The paper
Q.A. Wang et al., “Reversible de-differentiation of mature white adipocytes into preadipocyte-like precursors during lactation,” Cell, 28:P282–88.E3, 2018.
Breast tissue undergoes a remarkable transformation to allow for breastfeeding—and the process reverses after weaning. Lipid-filled fat cells essentially disappear to make room for milk production, and once an animal is done lactating, the cells come back again.
While the phenomenon of the disappearing-reappearing fat cell is well documented, the fate of these cells, called adipocytes, during the cycle was a subject of debate. Do the cells die off, or turn into another cell type? And in either scenario, how do they make a comeback after lactation ceases?
To find out, Philipp Scherer’s group at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center took advantage of the lab’s AdipoChaser mouse, in which mature fat cells that are stained blue retain their color permanently. The investigators found that during ...
