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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Mar 18.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2016 Jun 1;27(8):574–585. doi: 10.1016/j.tem.2016.05.001

Figure 2. Adult Adipose Tissue Homeostasis and Beiging.

Figure 2.

White adipocytes formation: adult white adipocyte progenitor cells (APCs) emanate from different lineages than do developmental APCs. However, adult APCs are specified at or near embryonic day (E)10.5; these cells then undergo a rostral–caudal migration throughout embryogenesis, eventually arriving at the adipose depots at approximately postnatal day (P)30. At P30, adult E10.5-specified APC then occupy vascular niche positioning and express mural cell and APC markers. Under homeostatic and adipogenic cues, these cells then transition from the blood vessel niche as they differentiate into mature unilocular white adipocytes. Beige/brite adipocyte formation: in cold-stimulated adult mice, vascular residing alpha smooth muscle actin (SMA)+ beige/brite progenitor cells leave their perivascular niche and differentiate into beige/brite adipocytes. The relation between adult vascular-residing white APC and vascular-residing beige/brite adipocyte progenitors is currently unknown, as is the embryonic specification of beige/brite progenitors.