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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Mar 5.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Metab. 2013 Apr 11;17(5):644–656. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2013.03.008

Table 1.

Adipokines Reported to Exhibit Fat-Depot-Specific Expression

Adipokine or
Secreted Factor
Source Cells Depot References
Leptin* fat cells subcutaneous > omental (Wiest et al., 2010)
Adiponectin*
HMW
fat cells omental > subcutaneous (Kovacova et al., 2012)
PAI-1 preadipocytes possibly, omental >
subcutaneous
(Xu et al., 2012)
IL-6* preadipocytes, macrophages,
activated endothelial cells, large
fat cells
visceral > subcutaneous (Fontana et al., 2007)
TNF-α* preadipocytes, macrophages,
adipocytes
mesenteric >
omental = subcutaneous
(Cartier et al., 2008; Xu et al., 2012)
MCP-1* preadipocytes, macrophages visceral > subcutaneous (Madani et al., 2009; Miller et al., 2011)
Angiotensinogen fat tissue omental > subcutaneous (Dusserre et al., 2000; van Harmelen et al., 2000)
RANTES* stromal vascular fraction,
fat cells
gastric fat pad >
omental = subcutaneous
(Madani et al., 2009)
CSF-1 endothelial cells, fibroblasts visceral > subcutaneous (Harman-Boehm et al., 2007)
Omentin stromal vascular cells omental > subcutaneous (Yang et al., 2006)
RBP4 preadipocytes, adipocytes visceral < subcutaneous (Kos et al., 2011)
Chimerin unknown visceral < subcutaneous (Alfadda et al., 2012)
Vaspin fat cells visceral > subcutaneous (Hida et al., 2005; Klöting et al., 2006)

Many adipokines are secreted by adipose tissue. Those that reportedly exhibit regional variation in expression or secretion are included. The cell types in which they are expressed are indicated. Secretion of several of these adipokines (marked by *) has been verified in studies of arteriovenous concentration gradients across adipose depots. Expression or secretion of several of these adipokines is affected by body mass index, fat cell size, or gender in addition to the adipose depot. The following abbreviations were used: HMW, high molecular weight isoform; PAI-1, plasminogen-activated inhibitor 1; IL-6, interleukin-6; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor α; MCP-1, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1; RANTES, regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted; CSF-1, colony-stimulating factor 1; and RBP4, retinol binding protein 4.