In Vitro Approaches to Model and Study Communication Between Adipose Tissue and the Liver

Inter-organ communication is central to mammalian metabolism, allowing for the coordination of crucial homeostatic processes such as food intake, body weight, and blood glucose. Dissecting this process at a cellular and molecular level requires the establishment of a reductionist system in which cell types of interest can be investigated as the source and target of biologically relevant signals. Here, we describe a system to study the interaction between adipocytes and hepatocytes using either conditioned media from cultured adipocytes or co-culture of hepatocytes with adipose explants. These methods have the potential to identify novel polypeptides and metabolites involved in the adipose-liver metabolic axis.