Visceral Preadipocytes (VPA)

Adipocytes, also known as lipocytes and fat cells, are the cells that primarily compose adipose tissue, specialized in storing energy as fat.Preadipocytes are undifferentiated fibroblasts that can be stimulated to form adipocytes. Recent studies shed light into potential molecular mechanisms in the fate determination of preadipocytes although the exact lineage of adipocyte is still unclear.The variation of body fat distribution resulting from normal growth is influenced by nutritional and hormonal status in dependence on intrinsic differences in cells found in each adipose depot.In humans, adipose tissue is located beneath the skin (subcutaneous fat), around internal organs (visceral fat), in bone marrow, intermuscular and in the breast tissue.Visceral preadipocytes are isolated from internal organs fat tissue.The highly regulated differentiation and proliferation of preadipocytes play a key role in the initiation of obesity.