Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 2, 2025

Quantitating Iron Transport Across the Mouse Placenta In Vivo Using Nonradioactive Iron Isotopes
Published on: May 10, 2022
Fat and Iron Don't Mix
Magdalene K Ameka1, Alyssa H Hasty1
1Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, 23rd Ave South and Pierce, Nashville 37232-0615 USA.
Abstract:
Low-grade chronic adipose tissue (AT) inflammation is now recognized as a pivotal driver of the multi-organ dysfunction associated with obesity-related complications; and adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) are key to the development of this inflammatory milieu. Along with their role in immunosurveillance, ATMs are central regulators of AT iron homeostasis. Under optimal conditions, ATMs maintain a proper homeostatic balance of iron in adipocytes; however, during obesity, this relationship is altered, and iron is repartitioned into adipocytes as opposed to ATMs. This adipocyte iron overload leads to systemic IR and the mechanism for these effects is still under investigation. Here, we comment on the most recent findings addressing the interplay between adipocyte and ATM iron handling, and metabolic dysfunction.
Related Concept Videos
Fats as Energy Storage Molecules
The Early Endosome: Endocytosis of Transferrin
Necrosis
Morphological Manifestations of Necrosis
Necrotic cells show different types of morphological appearance depending on the type of tissue and infection. In coagulative necrosis, cells become...
Cholesterol: Significance and Regulation
Considering cholesterol and...
Overview of Fatty Acid Metabolism
Fatty acids are catabolized in a process called beta-oxidation, which takes place in the matrix of the mitochondria and converts their fatty acid chains into two-carbon units of acetyl groups. The acetyl...
Lipids: Dietary Sources and Requirements

