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Updated: May 13, 2026
07:03
Isolation of Adipose Tissue Nuclei for Single-Cell Genomic Applications
Published on: June 12, 2020
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Aging human abdominal subcutaneous white adipose tissue at single cell resolution
K L Whytock1, A Divoux1, Y Sun2
1Translational Research Institute, AdventHealth, Orlando, Florida, USA.
Aging Cell
|August 14, 2024
Summary
Aging white adipose tissue (WAT) shows cellular changes, including larger adipocytes and increased immune cells, without significant fibrosis or loss of insulin sensitivity in older adults.
Area of Science:
- Metabolic health and aging research.
- Adipose tissue biology and cellular senescence.
Background:
- White adipose tissue (WAT) is crucial for energy storage and metabolic health, but its function changes with age.
- Understanding age-related cellular alterations in WAT is vital for maintaining metabolic homeostasis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify cell-specific transcriptional changes in human abdominal subcutaneous WAT during aging.
- To characterize the cellular and molecular landscape of WAT in younger versus older individuals.
Main Methods:
- Utilized full-length single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-Seq) and histology.
- Analyzed abdominal subcutaneous WAT from younger (≤30 years) and older (≥65 years) individuals, balanced for sex and BMI.
- Compared key metabolic and endocrine markers between age groups.
Main Results:
- Older individuals exhibited increased adipocyte size (hypertrophy) and higher proportions of lipid-associated macrophages and mast cells in WAT.
- Aging WAT showed upregulated immune responses linked to fibrosis across adipocytes, pre-adipocytes, and vascular cells, with CXCL14 identified as a potential biomarker.
- Elevated senescence marker p16 was observed in specific adipocyte subpopulations in older WAT, despite no overt fibrosis or significant difference in WAT insulin sensitivity.
- Older individuals had higher levels of cholesterol, VLDL, triglycerides, TSH, and AST.
Conclusions:
- Aging human WAT undergoes significant cellular and transcriptional shifts, including adipocyte hypertrophy, altered immune cell populations, and increased senescence markers.
- Despite these changes, aging WAT in this cohort did not display overt fibrosis or impaired insulin sensitivity compared to younger individuals.
- CXCL14 emerges as a potential biomarker for age-related immune and fibrotic processes in WAT.
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