Caenorhabditis elegans serves as a model for understanding adiposity and its connections to aging. Current methodologies do not distinguish between fats serving the energy needs of the parent, akin to mammalian adiposity, from those that are distributed to the progeny, making it difficult to accurately interpret the physiological implications of fat content changes induced by external perturbations. Using spectroscopic coherent Raman imaging, we determine the protein content, chemical profiles and dynamics of lipid particles in live animals. We find fat particles in the adult intestine to be diverse, with most destined for the developing progeny. In contrast, the skin-like epidermis contains fats that are the least heterogeneous, the least dynamic and have high triglyceride content. These attributes are most consistent with stored somatic energy reservoirs. These results challenge the prevailing practice of assessing C. elegans adiposity by measurements that are dominated by the intestinal fat content.

秀丽隐杆线虫作为理解肥胖及其与衰老的联系的模型。目前的方法没有区分满足父母能量需求的脂肪（类似于哺乳动物肥胖）和分配给后代的脂肪，因此很难准确解释由外部扰动引起的脂肪含量变化的生理意义。使用光谱相干拉曼成像，我们确定了活体动物中脂质颗粒的蛋白质含量、化学特征和动力学。我们发现成人肠道中的脂肪颗粒是多种多样的，其中大部分注定要用于发育中的后代。相比之下，类皮肤表皮所含的脂肪最不均匀、最不活跃，而且甘油三酯含量高。这些属性与储存的体能储存库最为一致。通过测量以肠道脂肪含量为主的线虫肥胖。