Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

ADIPOSE TISSUE

Insulin sensitive human adipocytes for in vitro studies

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, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

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

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing