3D Brown Adipogenesis to Create "Brown-Fat-in-Microstrands"

Overview

Journal Biomaterials

Specialty Biomedical Engineering

Date 2015 Oct 27

PMID 26496384

Citations 10

Authors

Andrea M Unser

Bridget Mooney

David T Corr

Yu-Hua Tseng

Yubing Xie

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The ability of brown adipocytes (fat cells) to dissipate energy as heat shows great promise for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic disorders. Employing pluripotent stem cells, with an emphasis on directed differentiation, may overcome many issues currently associated with primary fat cell cultures. In addition, three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems are needed to better understand the role of brown adipocytes in energy balance and treating obesity. To address this need, we created 3D "Brown-Fat-in-Microstrands" by microfluidic synthesis of alginate hydrogel microstrands that encapsulated cells and directly induced cell differentiation into brown adipocytes, using mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) as a model of pluripotent stem cells, and brown preadipocytes as a positive control. Brown adipocyte differentiation within microstrands was confirmed by immunocytochemistry and qPCR analysis of the expression of the brown adipocyte-defining marker uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), as well as other general adipocyte markers. Cells within microstrands were responsive to a β-adrenergic agonist with an increase in gene expression of thermogenic UCP1, indicating that these "Brown-Fat-in-Microstrands" are functional. The ability to create "Brown-Fat-in-Microstrands" from pluripotent stem cells opens up a new arena to understanding brown adipogenesis and its implications in obesity and metabolic disorders.

Citing Articles

Evaluation of Alginate Hydrogel Microstrands for Stromal Cell Encapsulation and Maintenance.

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Alginate microfibers as therapeutic delivery scaffolds and tissue mimics.

Xie Y, Kollampally S, Jorgensen M, Zhang X Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2022; 247(23):2103-2118.

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Microfluidics Fabrication of Micrometer-Sized Hydrogels with Precisely Controlled Geometries for Biomedical Applications.

Wei Z, Wang S, Hirvonen J, Santos H, Li W Adv Healthc Mater. 2022; 11(16):e2200846.

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