Fat Tissue Reorganizes During Pregnancy

Researchers identify a protein that promotes changes in adipose tissue in vitro and in pregnant mice and may help protect against gestational diabetes in humans.

Written byCatherine Offord

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The paper
R. Rojas-Rodriguez et al., “PAPPA-mediated adipose tissue remodeling mitigates insulin resistance and protects against gestational diabetes in mice and humans,” Sci Transl Med, 12:eaay4145, 2020.

A fetus needs fuel, and a mother’s body undergoes big physiological changes during pregnancy to make sure it gets it. One change is a reduction in insulin sensitivity, meaning that cells become less responsive to insulin signals telling them to take up glucose from the blood. In 5 percent to 9 percent of US pregnancies, cells become so resistant to insulin that they become significantly less effective at keeping blood glucose levels down. Mothers who have this temporary condition, known as gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), may have an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes and other diseases later in life—as may her children.

Several years ago, Raziel Rojas-Rodriguez, then a PhD student in Silvia Corvera’s lab at the University ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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