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Updated: May 25, 2026

Investigation of Macrophage Polarization Using Bone Marrow Derived Macrophages
Published on: June 23, 2013
Macrophages, meta-inflammation, and immuno-metabolism
Haim Shapiro1, Aviv Lutaty, Amiram Ariel
1Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel.
Abstract:
Current research depicts specific modes of immunity and energy metabolism as being interrelated at the molecular, cellular, organ and organism level. Hence, whereas M2 (alternatively-activated) macrophages dominate insulin-sensitive adipose tissue in the lean, M1-skewed (classically-activated) macrophages accumulate in parallel to adiposity in the obese, and promote inflammation and insulin resistance, that is, meta-inflammation. The latest frontier of immuno-metabolism explores the coregulation of energy metabolism and immune function within hematopoietic cells. M1-skewed macrophages are sustained in edematous, hypoxic tissues by anaerobic glycolysis, whereas mitochondrial biogenesis and respiration dominates in M2 cells. We review the underlying mechanisms and the consequences of the transition from M2 to M1 predominance in adipose tissue, as well as the extracellular signals and transcription factors that control macrophage phenotypes and impose distinct metabolic modes.
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