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Updated: Oct 6, 2025

Measuring the Rate of Lipolysis in Ex Vivo Murine Adipose Tissue and Primary Preadipocytes Differentiated In Vitro
Published on: March 17, 2023
Pharmacological agents targeting autophagy and their effects on lipolysis in human adipocytes
Qing Xu1, Edwin Cm Mariman1, Ellen E Blaak1
1Department of Human Biology, NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre(+), Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Abstract:
Adipose tissue of metabolically compromised humans with obesity is often characterized by impaired regulation of autophagy pathway. However, data on the role of autophagy in human adipocyte lipid catabolism is scarce. Therefore, we investigated the effect of pharmacological agents (including 3-methyladenine (3MA), bafilomycin A1 (BAF), chloroquine (CQ) and lalistat-2 (L-stat), that target different stages of the autophagy pathway on lipid hydrolysis in differentiated human multipotent adipose-derived stem cells (hMADs). Glycerol and fatty acid release were measured as marker of lipid hydrolysis following starvation and β-adrenergic stimulation. Microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 ratio (LC3II/LC3I) and HSL phosphorylation (pHSL) were analyzed by Western blot. Our data indicate that pharmacological inhibition of the autophagy pathway reduced lipid hydrolysis in human adipocytes, although to a limited extent (10-15%). However, further research is needed to reveal the exact mechanism of action of these pharmacological agents and their interplay with cytosolic lipid breakdown in human adipocytes.
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