With age, stem cells activate and promote the accumulation of abdominal fat

With age, certain biological mechanisms are triggered, activating stem cells responsible for the accumulation of abdominal fat. This phenomenon sheds light on the link between aging and localized fatty mass gain, according to recent research.

Stem cells at the heart of abdominal fat storage

The impact of aging on the body is not limited to wrinkles and muscle loss. Recent work carried out by a team of theArthur Riggs Diabetes and Metabolism Research Institute one you City of Hope reveal that the passage of years ” Unlocking stem cells in adults that produce more problematic fat cells in the abdominal region », To use the words of the endocrinologist Adolfo Garcia-Ochana.

An unprecedented mechanism identified in mice … and confirmed in humans

The study has looked at PRAIDIPOCYTES committed (CP-As)a particular type of adult stem cells located in the white adipose tissue. These, according to the researchers, are surprisingly more active with age, thus generating an overproduction of new fatty cells. This phenomenon was first observed in mice and then, during analyzes carried out on human tissues from five various ages (including only one woman), this increased activity of CP-AS in older subjects was also noted.

Several elements explain this discovery:

• No food or physical activity modification was not necessary to trigger this mechanism.
• The cellular environment is not enough to explain the process: when transplanting these cells from young mice towards older, they do not spontaneously generate new fatty cells, thus pointing the crucial role of aging itself.

Therapeutic tracks in perspective

By analyzing theARN Stem cells, scientists highlighted a major change in certain molecular circuits during the transition to an advanced age, in particular via the LIFR receiver (leukemia inhibitory factor receptor). This signaling route seems to play a key role in the instruction given to these cells so that they produce more adipose tissue.

At this stage, if these results require confirmation on an enlarged human sample – and including more women – they could soon pave the way for targeted strategies against unwanted accumulation of abdominal fat linked to age. Pending possible therapeutic advances, ” The best way to limit these effects is still to increase your daily mobility », Glush cautiously the researcher Qiong (Annabel) Wang. Thus is a new track for a better understanding-and mastery-of metabolic aging.