Dermal Adipose Tissue Has High Plasticity And Undergoes Reversible Dedifferentiation In Mice

    September 2019 in “ Journal of Clinical Investigation ”
    Zhuzhen Zhang, Mengle Shao, Chelsea Hepler, Zhenzhen Zi, Shangang Zhao, Yu An, Yi Zhu, Alexandra L. Ghaben, Li Wang, Na Li, Toshiharu Onodera, Nolwenn Joffin, Clair Crewe, Qingzhang Zhu, Lavanya Vishvanath, Ashwani Kumar, Chao Xing, Qiong Wang, Laurent Gautron, Yingfeng Deng, Ruth Gordillo, Ilja L. Kruglikov, Christine M. Kusminski, Rana K. Gupta, Philipp E. Scherer
    Studysummary This study found that mature dermal adipocytes have high plasticity, undergoing dedifferentiation and redifferentiation, which plays a significant role in hair cycling and wound healing. Our plain-language summary of this paper — not a Tressless recommendation.
    The study demonstrated that dermal adipose tissue (dWAT) in mice exhibited high plasticity, undergoing reversible dedifferentiation into fibroblast-like and adipocyte progenitor-like cells, which could then redifferentiate back into mature adipocytes. This plasticity was crucial for hair follicle cycling, wound healing, and skin homeostasis. The findings suggested that dWAT played a significant role in skin health and could be a potential target for therapeutic strategies in conditions like alopecia and fibrosis. The research was supported by various experiments, including single-cell RNA sequencing and in vivo proliferation assays, involving multiple groups of mice.
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